


Trial by Fire

by Izzu



Category: Gyakuten Kenji | Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-12-05
Updated: 2011-05-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an unsuspecting call arrived in the late of night, Prosecutor Mitsurugi Reiji was pulled into another case full of unexplained mysteries. To solve the mystery of the murder, he and Odoroki have to work together to prove the client's innocence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unexpected Turnabout

**Author's Note:**

> This was my NaNo 2008 piece that I did.

A familiar tune pulled him back from his deep slumber as Mitsurugi Reiji groggily opened his eyes and blindly searched for his phone in the darkness. As he grabbed it, he flicked it open and placed the phone near his ear.

"Hello—?" he said as the familiar buzzing in his head started to clear.

"Mitsurugi?"

He blinked. Suddenly, a slight feeling of déjà-vu hit him.

Normally, when called during these wee hours and finding out that the caller had been either of his two friends; he would have certainly flip out and shout at them for waking him up from his needed rest. After all, Yahari had often gave him a call and exclaim about some emergencies and causing him to run over in haste towards wherever place that he was told to go; only to find out that the _emergency_ was not something of great importance. Aside from that, Naruhodou also sometimes called over with some of his own unique requests. And more often than not, he always ended up helping him or taking part in another of Naruhodou's outrageous _missions_.

Whenever this happened, he would in one way or another regret his decision but would still help him out with whatever task that he was asked. However, this fact was only true during these few recent years when he had been asked to help out to prove his innocence on the fraud accusations as well as the pressing need to change the nation's judicial system. Naruhodou seldom called him out if he had no reason to do so. But he did, right now.

Somehow, this time, for some reason he felt that this call was not like the usual. A feeling of dread somehow crept into the core of his heart.

"Naruhodou? What—what's up? You're not one to call me up so sudden—" he asked, unsure as his own voice shook.

"Mitsurugi... sorry..."

Naruhodou spoke straight to the point. No greetings, no initial ramblings... nothing. For some reason, Mitsurugi felt even more unnerved.

"Listen. The case... not like what it seemed... my client... please... help her!"

He frowned.

"Naruhodou? What—what're you talking about? Hey? Are you still there?"

"..."

Something inside of him started to quiver. Something was certainly wrong and it was not just inside his head. Naruhodou for one was not someone who would do a prank like this. Okay he was nowadays... but not now at least, he had his particular ways of pranking people. He finds it hard to believe this was just a prank. That guy had a certain style to his pranks after all.

"Naruhodou! Are you there? Talk to me!"

Again there was silence. Mitsurugi felt even more uneasy.

"Where are you now?" he asked as the other side remain silent. And his feelings of dread immediately changed into a sense of urgency. This was no time to lie on the bed and do nothing!

Mitsurugi ended the call right away without waiting for any other response from the other side. He got off the bed clumsily before entering the bathroom in a hurry to wash his face and get himself changed. Few minutes later, he stormed out of his house and drove his car out into the streets. Placing the earphone on his ears, he started dialing a number as the car sped into the highway.

As the ringing tone clicked, he heaved a sigh of relief as he heard another voice answering the call.

" **...hello? Odoroki here—"**

"Odoroki, this is Prosecutor Mitsurugi. Is Naruhodou there?" he asked right away, not waiting for the other person to finish talking.

" **Ah, Mitsurugi-san! Err... no. Naruhodou-san was still at the office, ironing out some of the last minute report for tomorrow's case. Is there something you need to—?"**

"Odoroki-kun, just now... did somebody tried to call the apartment before?"

Odoroki sounded confused before laughing nervously.

" **Uh, maybe, I guess? I don't know for sure."** he said before explaining.

**"Minuki and I had gone out earlier to do some grocery shopping. We just happened to get back a few minutes ago so if there were any calls during that time... well—we were supposed to wait for Naruhodou-san but we couldn't reach him. He might not have left the place as of yet."**

Mitsurugi snorted impatiently as his thought hovered back towards Naruhodou's earlier call.

"The office... is it? Did he brought everything that he had for his case tomorrow with him to the office?"

**"Huh? Err, no. It just happened that there was something he forgot to take from the office so he went back to get it. Why... did something happen?"**

Mitsurugi bit his lips as he paused. There was no need to alarm them yet for something that he has not confirmed of the validity himself.

"Err, nothing. I'll call you back later. There's something else that I needed to confirm." he said as he ended the call.

Perhaps he had been overreacting a bit here but he did not want to regret not doing something if his suspicions had been true. If something had happened to Naruhodou, he would not be able to forgive himself for it.

After all, Naruhodou had called _him_. For his help... most probably.

Naruhodou had helped him in the past to clear him of suspicions of murder even when he had refused the help initially. Sure, since then both of them have helped each other a lot in court and in life but that does not mean that the thing between them would be over once the debt of gratitude was paid. They were friends and still are. In addition, if it were true that Naruhodou was in such grave danger and in need of help, he would not be so sparing to not offer the needed help. But hopefully, it was not needed. He did not want to think of what he would do if something did happen to this old friend.

He turned left as the car entered the road was heading towards Naruhodou's office. To his disdain, there was a single patrol car parked nearby the office. An officer, standing not far from his car; was seen talking to a very animated elderly woman. Mitsurugi parked his car nearby as he walked out of the car.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked as he reached them.

The officer turned towards him as the man sighed exasperatedly.

"Nothing important, sir. Just a false alarm. This lady here mistook a prank by some kids to be real. I'm sorry if you had been troubled because of it... Chief Prosecutor Mitsurugi." said the officer as he gave him a look of recognition.

Mitsurugi waved him off as he turned to look at the old lady.

"It might be... it might be not. May I know what the matter was about...? Madam?"

The old lady leered at him as she explained again.

"That's what I'm telling this officer, Mister! I know I may look like an old coot short of hearing but I know what I have heard! It was a gunshot, you hear me? Not some hillbilly of a prank like this officer said it could be. Sure, there were some kids in the neighbourhood playing pranks and setting off fireworks lately here... but I know the difference between firecrackers and gunshots!"

"There's a chance that you might be mistaken, Madam. Here sir, I found this at the alley nearby—" said the officer as he showed the burnt pieces to Mitsurugi.

"Hmm..." Mitsurugi frowned as he examined the burnt residue.

Some of the paper casings were still intact and it did appear to have been lighted previously. Still, he felt that something was amiss. He could not smell any hint of sulphur in the air, any evidence that some firecrackers had been set off recently. Even if it has been more than a few hours since the incident occurred; traces of sulphur in the air could not have disappeared so fast if there were crackers lighted in the area prior. Because if what the lady had heard was true... he feared that it was not just a simple false alarm.

"Madam, did you remembered when was it that you heard the gunshot sound? Or the cracker sound–whichever it was for real." he added as the officer gave him a look.

The woman's eyes shifted as she tried to remember the details before answering.

"I think it was about two hours ago. I was watching my favourite drama series around that time when I heard the noise. I can't be mistaken!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure it didn't come from something else... or even from the TV?" chided the officer again as the old lady exclaimed in protest.

"Of course I am sure! It was _very loud_! People around here don't turn their volumes so loud!"

"Two hours ago?" he mused loudly as he frowned. Two hours ago would be around the same time when he had received Naruhodou's call. It could not just be a coincidence!

He sighed.

"Officer... Fukami. I know that this may sound strange now but I would like you to take this woman inside her home and write down her statement; including what you've just found at the alley. Madam, I would also like you to tell everything you've heard in detail to this officer. I'll excuse myself for a while..."

"Sir, where are you going?" asked the officer as he was about to leave.

"I'm checking up on something. Hopefully this was just a misunderstanding—" he said hurriedly as he ran up the stairs leading to Naruhodou's office.

xxx

His hands hovered over the door knob as he hesitated. It had been like almost eleven years since he had entered this place to find the body of Naruhodou's dead mentor; lying motionless in her office. Since then, he had dreaded walking into this place with or without any reason. He was not one to believe in anything occult-like but with everything that he had seen since, he could not deny the possibility. This place had given him a sort of uneasy feeling every time he came to visit, as if the office itself had drawn in all of the darkness in this world and brings misfortune to anyone occupying it. Ayasato Chihiro has been killed in this office; Naruhodou kept getting hopeless cases and eventually was disbarred. It was as if this office brought him and his former mentor nothing but bad karma.

Nevertheless, it was not like only bad things ever happen to him, he should not be superstitious so suddenly. Moreover, worrying over nothing over here was not getting him anywhere; the office would probably be closed by now. Mitsurugi shook his head as he twisted the door knob.

He could barely hold his breath when he found out that the door was unlocked. His heart thumped rapidly, his anxiety reaching up the limit. Wait... he should calm himself down. Naruhodou probably forgot to lock his door when he was coming in and he probably was still inside...

... but the office was dark.

Who on earth would stay in this pitch black place like this, doing absolutely nothing? His nose immediately caught a smell that he did not hope to get as he entered the office.

The coppery smell of blood, the smell of death...

"Naruhodou!" he cried as he dashed towards the office room only to confirm his nagging suspicions. Books cluttered everywhere; Minuki's things as well as other random props had been thrown all around as if there was a maniac haphazardly turning the place upside down in search of something. Feeling the sense of urgency again, he hurried towards the smaller room.

To his horror, he found a fallen figure in the room; unmoving, almost at the same spot where Chihiro-san had lost her life prior.

He shakily stumbled onto his fallen friend as he lifted his body up. Naruhodou's shirt was wet with his own blood and they were still fresh. Mitsurugi hesitated before checking his pulse to see if he had kicked the bucket. To his relief, Naruhodou was still alive but the pulse was very weak. His eyes immediately darted towards the cell phone lying nearby.

Several spots of blood could be seen on some of the keypads on the phone. Naruhodou probably put his number on speed dial. Can he say it was luck? If he had still stayed abroad, it might have been too late. Naruhodou could have been found dead if he did!

Soft footsteps could be heard approaching the room as the officer from earlier poked his head into the room.

"Err... Sir? Is there anything I could—?"

Realization snapped him back to life as Mitsurugi turned towards the voice.

"Hurry! Call for backups! And ambulance! Someone had been shot!"

The officer was taken aback before noticing the fallen attorney as he ran out to get help. Mitsurugi turned his attention back towards his fallen friend as he tapped him softly on his cheeks.

"Naruhodou! NARUHODOU! Oi!"

After a few nudge, Naruhodou's eyes slowly opened to his relief. Mitsurugi let out a sigh.

"Naruhodou, can you hear me? Help is coming. Hold on until then!" he said as he held Naruhodou's hand tightly. He glanced back towards the door.

_Damn... where did that officer went? Calling for ambulance and backup can't take that long... can it?_

Mitsurugi pulled out his cravat as he used it to try stopping the blood from coming out even more. Noticing the entry wound on his chest, he was glad that the shot missed Naruhodou's heart entirely. But still, this wound—he really hoped that he did not lose too much blood. Mitsurugi prayed repeatedly for the ambulance to come faster.

His prayers were answered thirty minutes later as he could hear the sound of sirens coming towards the place. Moments after that, the officer reappeared with paramedics as they carried Naruhodou out of the office to get him to the nearest hospital...


	2. Sudden Turn

Mitsurugi heaved a long sigh as he took an overall look around the office alias crime scene.

_Damn, this going to get messy pretty soon,_ he thought to himself as he glanced on the folders left on the desk. Probably those were the very thing that Naruhodou had been meaning to bring home before being interrupted by this unknown assailant. His ears caught the sound of someone approaching as he recognized the presence.

"Prosecutor Mitsurugi, I'm here already. Is there anything I can help?"

Mitsurugi turned towards the man as Detective Itonokogiri flashed him a smug smile. He shrugged.

"You do seemed to like barging into cases that suits your fancy, don't you?"

The man grinned.

"I overheard that you were around and I also heard about this case on the wire. There's no way that I would not get my hands on this. I don't want some other no-name detectives messing with this case and let the culprit free! So is it true then? Is Naruhodou—"

"Naruhodou should be alright... now that help have arrived. Did you hear anything from Akane?"

Detective Itonoko gave him a puzzled look before letting out a sigh.

"She's on her way. She's a bit preoccupied for tomorrow's trial. Do you need me to ask her to come here faster?"

Mitsurugi shook his head.

"No. Tell her to concentrate on tomorrow's case. Send me all the information regarding the case to me by tomorrow. You, help me on this investigation. Have your men ask around to see if there's anything else that might shed light into this case."

Detective Itonoko frowned.

"Is there something bothering you, sir?"

"Everything that's happening right now is bothering me, Itonoko-san. I suspect that this attack was not so coincidental nor was this just a random attack. I had a suspicion that this has something to do with the new case Naruhodou was handling..."

"Naruhodou-san's case?"

Mitsurugi gave him a look-down as the detective recoiled.

"Naruhodou was the defense attorney for tomorrow's case. We happened to talk about it a few days ago, considering that this would be the first case that he would be handling since he reacquired his bar. I never expected that this could happen to him just the night before the trial started."

"Before that... erm, Mitsurugi-san. How did you happen to come here so fast—?"

He snorted.

"Itonoko-san, don't ask stupid questions. Naruhodou called me right after he's been shot. Now go do your work! I need to make some calls." he said sternly as he walked out of the room to get some air.

"Ah... right!" exclaimed the detective as he hastily looked around among the scattered objects to look for clues. As he gathered the bloodied phone and some shattered remains, he looked over towards the prosecutor as the man started grumbling aloud.

xxx

October 24, 9.45 AM, Defendant Lobby 2. Trial Day One.

"Sorry sir... today's trial have been postponed till half an hour later." said the bailiff as Odoroki and Minuki arrived. Both of them excused themselves as they waited at the waiting area.

"Ahh! So many things to do..." Odoroki groaned aloud as he flipped back on the folders that he had been holding.

"—where is Naruhodou-san? Why did I have to get suddenly shoved into this task—I've just finished a case trial a few days ago and now I had to run another one in the same week! What troublesome luck—"

"Chin up, Odoroki-san! Papa also used to get these kinds of days... think of it as practice!"

Odoroki leered towards the girl.

"Minuki-chan, the one shoving this case on me was your father. This case was supposed to be handled by him, you know?"

"Ah, well..."

"Hmmm... I hadn't expected to see you guys today. Hello there little missy... hi there, Odeko-kun!"

Odoroki gritted his teeth at the sound of that voice as he turned around to greet the said person. The man was smiling as he sauntered towards them.

Garyuu Kyouya. Prosecutor-at-law and former lead singer of the rock band group, Garyuu Wave and the only one person who would still call him names just to jeer at his big forehead. Due to an incident almost a year ago, the group have been disbanded due to the involvement of one of its member in a smuggling and murder case. How he despised seeing his face. Regardless of what had happened between them, the fact that Garyuu still maintained this little habit of his made him feel very annoyed every time the man opened his mouth.

Odoroki glanced at him blankly as he greeted him casually.

"Err... good morning to you too, Prosecutor Garyuu. Fancy meeting you so early here in the morning. Are you the prosecutor for today's case, I—"

The young man flashed a smile towards Minuki before frowning back at him.

"Nope. I mean... I was supposed to be prosecuting for this case but now I am not. I've been removed from handling this case so there would be another prosecutor to replace me. I just came here to watch you guys, though I was expecting to see you mentor instead."

Both Minuki and Odoroki gave a loud cry as they heard this revelation.

"Removed? W-why? And... Papa cannot come today—" said Minuki hesitantly as Garyuu shrugged.

"—did something happen? Have you done something bad or—" Odoroki started to say as Kyouya cut him off.

"No... no, of course not! Who did you think I am? And what about you two? I thought the defense this time would be that mentor of yours. Why did you took over the case instead? Where's Naruhodou-san?"

Odoroki frowned as he scratched the back of his head.

"I... I don't know. I've received a call last night saying that I should take over the case and read up on everything for today's defense. It was so sudden but the tone of Mitsurugi-san's voice had been urgent so I didn't have time to refuse. And Naruhodou-san did not return home last night so we had no clue on what was going on. He also forbids us to go to the office and just head straight to the courthouse right away. Do you... know anything about this?"

Now the frown returned to Prosecutor Garyuu's forehead as he pondered over this explanation.

"Weird... he said that to you? That doesn't make any sense! But then again... the one who ordered my removal was Chief Prosecutor Mitsurugi as well!" he exclaimed in return.

Odoroki gave a cry.

"Huh? That's... strange—today's trial had been postponed as well but why—? All of this can't be a coincidental!"

"Everything would be explained later. For now, you have to do your job in place of Naruhodou. Reiji will take over for the rest on this case's proceedings but for now, I'll be standing as the prosecutor today."

The three of them jumped as they turned around towards this new voice. Minuki gave a cry of delight as she recognized the person.

"Karuma-san!" cried the girl as Karuma Mei smiled bitterly towards her.

"Karuma-san? Why—why are you handling this case? Do you know what happened to Naruhodou-san? What—"

The young woman placed a hand on Minuki's shoulder as she turned towards Odoroki.

"I'll explain in detail later, Odoroki-kun. But for now, we have to settle today's proceeding first. This case is not as simple as it seemed. And Prosecutor Garyuu, I apologize for this sudden arrangement. But Reiji wanted to handle this case himself to make sure that the case will not end prematurely."

"Is there something wrong, Prosecutor Karuma?" asked Kyouya as Karuma turned towards Minuki.

"I'm not sure yet about this... but Minuki, I hope you'd be calm about this. Both of you as well, especially Odoroki-kun; since you're the one who's going to be defending. I hope what I'm telling you right now will not affect how you would handle this case."

The three of them went quiet as Karuma Mei explained.

"Last night, Naruhodou had been shot." she said as Minuki gave a cry, "—Reiji had another team investigating this incident but we had a suspicion that this was related to the case you're handling. We suspected that culprit doesn't want Naruhodou to handle this case."

"Mei-san! Papa... is Papa all right?" cried Minuki as she started to get teary. Karuma turned towards her to give her comfort.

"Calm down, Minuki. Your father is now in Intensive Care at the moment but he's fine. I'll take you to see him after this. Don't worry too much right now... for sure Naruhodou would—"

"But why? Does it mean that my client was innocent after all? Then why—"

Karuma Mei straightened up as she faced the young man.

"We can't say that for sure. Perhaps your client is indeed innocent but we still had no proof of anyone else who could be the real murderer. So that was your job today. If you could prove that there is a reasonable doubt concerning this case and convince the judge to prolong this case, we may be able to investigate deeper into this case and solve it. I'm sure by then Reiji would be able to gather enough evidence to connect these two cases together by tomorrow—"

"But I don't get it. Why attack Naruhodou-san? This case itself was still too vague. There are too much unexplained details and holes in this case. That was why the defendant had been detained. Even if he could bluff his way like he often did anyway, there's no guarantee—"

Karuma Mei cocked her head towards Garyuu as she flashed him a smug smile.

"You've forgotten something, Prosecutor Garyuu. Naruhodou-san... was not just any lawyer. Even if half the time in court he had been grasping for his case, most of his instincts were almost right on track. That's probably what our unknown assailant's worry most. He feared that Naruhodou would stumble into the truth while investigating this case."

"B-but... I'm not like Naruhodou-san, I—"

Prosecutor Karuma glanced back towards Odoroki.

"You can do it. If your skills are as good as I've heard from the rumours, you'd be fine. And we'll talk later. The proceeding's starting!" she said again as she stormed out of the room.

Odoroki bit his lips as Minuki grasped his arm tightly. He turned to glance at her.

"Don't worry... Odoroki-san. You should do well. I trust in your ability." said the girl as he frowned. He almost forgot that the one person who would be more distraught over this case more than himself, would be Minuki. It was her adopted father after all who have been shot.

Odoroki nodded weakly.

"Yeah, my bad. Let's get inside... we need to get the case going!"

xxx

October 24, 10.30 AM, District Court

The atmosphere in the courtroom was as intense as usual. It had just been a few days ago since he had finished resolving a case, he had not expected to be getting another one shortly after that. Not to mention after hearing what Prosecutor Karuma had just told them earlier, Odoroki felt as if today's case going to be another troublesome one.

He looked around among the audience to see Garyuu Kyouya sitting inconspicuously on the defense side. Apparently, during the short time after they have parted, the man had donned some sort of disguise so that his fans would not be able to recognize him. Although the disguise was not all that great, he wondered why such a weak attempt could still fool the lot of his fans that came for today's case. Odoroki also could not help noticing that most of the fangirls that had come to the trial were now subdued due to the lack of presence of the famed rock-star prosecutor, or so it seemed. Such occurrence was rare in his experience as a lawyer to date and Odoroki found it hard to get used to this.

The courtroom quieted down immediately as the judge entered and assumed his post. After the formal announcement for the court to proceed, the judge calmly slammed his gavel down before speaking.

"The court is now in session for the trial of Ms. Itou Kaoru."

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor." said Prosecutor Karuma briefly.

"The defense is ready, Your Honor." said Odoroki as well.

The judge gave out a surprised cry.

"Eh, I was not informed of this change! Wasn't this case supposed to be handled by attorney-at-law, Naruhodou Ryuichi and Prosecutor Garyuu—?"

SNAP!

Odoroki gave a start a he watch the judge get whipped by the female prosecutor.

"It's foolish to be answering a foolish question at the start of the day. There's been an accident befalling Naruhodou-san prior to today. In light of this new development, the District Prosecutor's Office decided that this incident needed to be handled more carefully thus the reason for Prosecutor Garyuu's replacement. Starting from tomorrow, this case would be handled by the current Chief Prosecutor, Prosecutor Mitsurugi Reiji."

The judge blinked.

"B-but... right now the one standing at the prosecutor's bench was you, Prosecutor Kar—!"

Another whiplash hit the judge as Prosecutor Karuma appeared agitated.

"I'm standing in for Prosecutor Mitsurugi today. He could not attend to today's proceeding as he had another investigation underway. Was that explanation enough for you, Your Honor?"

The judge blinked again before replying, "A-ah, very well. Miss Karuma, please give the court your opening statement."

"Thank you, Your Honor." said Karuma Mei promptly and she took out a file from her folders.

"The defendant, Ms. Itou Kaoru, was the only person at the scene of the crime when the eyewitnesses found them and called the police. There weren't any evidence of any other suspect aside from the defendant thus the prosecution can safely assume that defendant was indeed the murderer. Therefore, the prosecution sees no reason to doubt the facts of this case, Your Honor."

"I see. Thank you, Miss Karuma. Let's begin then, you may call your first witness."

Miss Karuma made a slight bow.

"The prosecution calls the chief investigator at the scene, Detective Houdzuki." said Karuma Mei as the crowd around him started to settle down into a whisper.

Within a few minutes, Detective Houdzuki Akane entered the courtroom and stood before the witness stand. Seeing the detective appearing calm and not grumpy was quite new to Odoroki; having to always be at the mercy of her moodiness. But then again Prosecutor Garyuu was not prosecuting on this case thus her having been in a better mood was of no surprise. After all, with the lack of the rock-star prosecutor; the ruckus coming from the rabid fangirls would also be nonexistent.

Anyhow, Odoroki's musing stopped abruptly as Prosecutor Karuma began her questioning.

xxx

"Witness, please state your name and profession to the court."

Miss Akane smiled as she nodded towards the prosecutor. Odoroki stared at her in wonder. The detective was definitely in a very pleasant mood!

"Yes, of course. My name is Houdzuki Akane, I'm the one in charge for the homicide investigation for this case." said the detective briefly.

"Detective Houdzuki, you may describe the details of your findings to the court regarding the murder."

"Very well, let me use this floor plan to explain. The victim had been found here at the centre hall of her mansion—" she said as she pointed on the display panel. "The victim had been shot once to the chest and hit the heart squarely. That was the main cause of death. We could not find the gun that could be the murder weapon but we also found a kitchen knife covered with the victim's blood nearby. We've also found that the victim also sustained several cut marks in her left arm and right shoulder. This is consistent with the evidence that we've obtained."

The judge nodded. "The court accepts this kitchen knife into evidence."

Prosecutor Karuma continued her questioning.

"You've also apprehended the defendant, Itou Kaoru on site. Can you explain to the court on why did you make the arrest?" she asked again as Akane replied.

"We've found decisive evidence that could connect the defendant to this murder. There is no doubt about it, the defendant is the killer."

His heart sank as Odoroki listened attentively to the testimony. This case was definitely going to be like those numerous case that he had handled in the past. No doubt about it. This was going to be another bumpy ride for him, that's for sure. This case was perhaps the first case so far that he had taken where he had nothing else to go by aside from the files he had acquired from Naruhodou. Suddenly he thought about the last case Naruhodou-san had taken before he had been falsely accused of forgery and disbarred, just because he had been careless about one piece of paper. Would the same thing happen to him?

Ah, as the thought passed his mind the knot inside his stomach started to tighten. He should remind himself to not be careless. Yes, he should do that.

Silently, Odoroki prayed.

He prayed that nothing bad would happen today. Hopefully, nothing will.


	3. Rough Start

" _We've found decisive evidence that could connect the defendant to this murder. There is no doubt about it, the defendant is the killer."_

The judge acknowledged the statement as the old man appeared thoughtful. Odoroki gritted his teeth.

"Hmm... Detective Houdzuki, please testify to the court about this decisive evidence."

Akane nodded.

"My pleasure, Your Honor." she said as she continued.

"When we received the call, we immediately rushed to the scene. The two people who had found the victim greeted us in front of the mansion and showed us towards the scene of the crime. Then as we reached the hall, we've found the victim lying on the floor; covered in her own blood. The defendant had been standing near the victim as if in a daze. After an autopsy had been done to the victim, it was estimated that the victim had been killed at least four hours prior to when the body has been found."

"Although we could not find the main murder weapon, we had run analysis on the kitchen knife that was found on the crime scene and managed to recover a set of clear fingerprints. The fingerprints found on the knife _matched_ the defendant's fingerprint _perfectly_. That is our _decisive evidence_!"

"Thank you, detective. Odoroki-kun... you may begin your cross-examination." said the judge as Odoroki nodded his head.

"Thank you, Your Honor." said Odoroki shakily as he glanced towards the stern face of Miss Karuma.

"Whoa... it's like a whole kind of different atmosphere over here..." he said softly so that only Minuki could hear him. Suddenly he felt his confidence wearing out of him. The testimony given by Detective Houdzuki seemed so solid! How on earth should he be finding any contradictions?

"Don't give up, Odoroki-san! Remember what Karuma-san said, you—"

"Ugyaaaaaaaaa!" cried Odoroki suddenly as Karuma-san whipped him from the other direction. Odoroki looked back at her as Karuma Mei gave him a look of disdain.

"Your cross-examination... now!"

"Yes madam!" cried Odoroki as he hurriedly gathered his notes. Minuki gave him a shrug as he rolled his eyes at her.

_He should remind himself never to test Prosecutor Karuma's patience ever again. Naruhodou-san was not kidding about her unique way of expressing her wrath towards other people._

xxx

Odoroki glanced at the transcript as he started his questions.

"Detective Houdzuki, you said when you received the call... you immediately rushed to the scene. How long did you take to arrive to the scene?"

"Objection! The prosecution requests that the defense do not waste time asking idiotic questions!" Karuma interjected.

Odoroki grinned helplessly as he took a stance backwards.

"Uh... sorry!" gasped Odoroki as Minuki gave him a look.

"You should be more careful in pressing your statements, Odoroki-san!'

_Odoroki nodded. So he would not be allowed to press on all of Detective Houdzuki's statements, eh? Miss Karuma is a strict customer..._

Odoroki took another read over the transcript containing Ema's statements. If he had remembered it correctly, Naruhodou-san had told him something his mentor used to say. Even if your witness was on the stands, they still do have a tendency to lie on their statement. Even if they did not, the witness might have forgotten to tell certain things while taking the stand. That was a kind of contradiction as well, and is a way for him to gather more information about the case. Come to think... he didn't have any chance to talk to his client. He had been handed this case at the last minute after all...

So that means gathering more information was the only thing he can do right now.

Odoroki took a long breath.

"Err... Detective, can you describe the conditions of the victim when you have found her in more detail?"

Detective Houdzuki smiled smugly. "Sure! That's my expertise!" she answered as she explained.

"When we found the victim on the day of the murder, the victim was lying just a few feet from the stairs. She was already dead by then; the shot at point blank range onto her heart made it certain. We managed to extract the bullet from the heart, it matched with a standard .40 calibre handgun bullet."

The judge nodded again.

"The court accepts this bullet into evidence."

Prosecutor Karuma shrugs. "Detective, you may continue..."

Odoroki interrupted them. "What about the defendant? Was my client really found in a daze?"

Akane nodded her affirmative. "Correct. When we arrived to the scene, the defendant had been standing not so far from where the victim lies. We found a kitchen knife lying several steps away from where the defendant was standing; underneath a long chair. Originally, we only decided to detain the defendant for questioning but further evidence found led us to arresting her as the culprit."

"Hold it!" exclaimed Odoroki. "Why is this kitchen knife taken into evidence? Wasn't the victim died from a gunshot?"

Akane frowned towards his direction as she spoke.

"Of course the victim died from a gunshot! But we also found both the victim's and defendant's fingerprint on the knife and we matched the blood on the knife with the victim's. The victim also had evidence of being attacked by the knife as well. So even if the knife was not the primary murder weapon, it was still a murder weapon."

Odoroki tapped his cheeks. "But isn't it strange? You guys managed to find the knife so easily but there was no sign of the gun, the real murder weapon. If my client was really the murderer, she shouldn't have allowed such things to be easily found. Couldn't it be possible that there was someone else besides my client that could have been the murderer?"

Akane frowned as she pondered over the possibility that Odoroki had pointed out.

"I guess you can say that was possible, but so far we could not find any other evidence other than the defendant and the victim in the house at the time of the murder."

Odoroki frowned. "One last thing, this autopsy report says that the estimated time of death was about four hours prior to when the body was found. In her testimony, Miss Itou said she had only arrived there around 11.00 in the morning. The real murderer could have gone away from the place long before Miss Itou arrived and found the victim!"

Akane gave him a patronising look.

"Unfortunately, your client could not provide a valid alibi to prove that. So I'm sorry, Odoroki-kun... but I cannot help you there. Your client was still a suspect."

Odoroki bit his lips again. In the end, he was back to square one. They still have no solid evidence to turn the case around.

The judge nodded. "You may step down, Detective Houdzuki. That concludes our first cross-examination for the day; the court will have a ten minute recess after this. The prosecution will call upon their next witness when the session resumes."

The judge slammed his gavel twice, signaling the end of the first cross-examination. Detective Houdzuki stepped down from the stand as Prosecutor Karuma walked out. Minuki nudged him as the rest of people also started leaving the room.

"Come on, time to make up for our loss and talk to our client!" said Odoroki aloud as Minuki nodded.

xxx

Both of them stared at each other for a full minute before Minuki nudged him to hurry up.

"Odoroki-san... we have no time for this!"

Odoroki snapped out of his reverie as he acknowledged her. "Ah yeah..." he said before turning back towards the girl in front of him.

"Umm... you're Itou Kaoru-san, aren't you?"

The shy-looking girl nodded.

"Y-yeah... you're... my new lawyer, isn't it? What happened to Naruhodou-san? Is he alright?"

Odoroki smiled weakly. "I hope so. We had been as clueless about this until today. So, is it okay for me to take over your defense? I barely manage to skim the whole file about the case this morning so I hadn't the time to read it completely. So what about that kitchen knife? How did you get your prints on it?"

Miss Itou bit her lips before answering.

"Uhh... that time, I was in the daze. I've received a call earlier that day to come to Yumiko-san's mansion to discuss about my script. But when I arrived, the door was open... and I saw Yumiko-san lying on the floor all bloodied! I saw the knife nearby... and without thinking I just picked it up. It was all so surreal..."

"Hmm..." hummed Odoroki as Miss Itou started fidgeting with her hands again.

"You believed me right? I didn't kill her! Yumiko-san... Yumiko-san was like a mentor to me! How could—Naruhodou-san believed me! Do you as well? I—"

"Calm down, Itou-san! Of course Odoroki-san believed on your innocence, right?" said Minuki as she turned towards him.

Odoroki nodded hastily. "O—of course! Of course I do! Umm... just now, you're saying about a script?"

The frown on Miss Itou's face immediately changed into a smile.

"Yes! I am an actress after all! Still new to this business but still am one."

"Oh, no wonder those names had sounded familiar," said Odoroki before noticing the time, "Oh dear, time almost up. We need to get back inside! Err... Itou-san—?"

"Yes?"

"I'm also a bit new in this law business. Unlike Naruhodou-san, I still lacked a lot of experience. But now I'm being entrusted with your defense... so I will do my best to defend you. Just like how Naruhodou-san would do. So I hope you will trust me."

Miss Itou smiled again.

"Thank you. If Naruhodou-san believed in your ability, then I'll put my trust in you as well." said Miss Itou as all of them headed to the courtroom.

"Oh wait!"

The girl turned around in confusion as Odoroki stuttered.

"Did you remember what time you arrived at Satsuki-san's place?"

The girl blinked.

"Ah, around 11.15 AM in the morning, I remembered driving out from the house at 10.30. The director's house was about half an hour from my house and there was a traffic jam on the way there. I remembered spending about ten minutes on the highway before entering the housing area where the mansion is."

"Thank you." said Odoroki as they parted.

xxx

The judge glanced around him as he watched everyone settling down in their place. After everything had quiet down, he slammed his gavel down.

"The court will now resume. Prosecutor Karuma, you may now call upon your next witness."

Prosecutor Karuma bowed gracefully.

"That will be my pleasure, Your Honor." she said as she rose. "The prosecution will now call Mr. Hosokawa Ryuuzo to the stands!"

The crowd behind him started murmuring again as Odoroki looked up towards the new witness. Mr. Hosokawa was a tall man with a lean build. He also has an air of confidence about him and he appeared very calm.

"Witness, state your name and profession to the court." said Karuma again for the second time in the day.

"Hosokawa Ryuuzo, I'm working as a script supervisor and producer under Shochiku Company."

"Thank you. Hosokawa-san, what was your relationship with the victim as well as the defendant, Miss Itou Kaoru?" said Karuma as she began the interrogation.

Mr. Hosokawa cleared his throat.

"Satsuki Yumiko was one of my closest friends. She had also worked under Shochiku with me as a scriptwriter as well as a director. Miss Itou Kaoru on the other hand... was one of the casts for our current production, Mystery Girl. Satsuki and I were part of the crew for this movie."

Karuma nodded as she flipped open another note. "Very well, thank you for your statement. Hosokawa-san, you were one of the two witnesses who found the victim dead in her mansion. Please testify to the court as to what you have witnessed."

"Very well." said the man as Odoroki braced for the next testimony.

"At the morning of the murder I was still working at my office. Around 9.30 in the morning, I've received a call from one of the main casts from the production, Shimotsuki Yukino. There seemed to be a bit of transportation problem for the actress so I had offered to drive to her place to pick her up. As Satsuki's house was nearby, we've decided to drop by and pick her up as well; considering we're going to have another shoot later in the evening and my staff back at the office told me she still haven't arrived to the office. We didn't expect to find Satsuki and Itou at the mansion with Satsuki covered in blood. We rushed out to call the police to report the incident. But I tell you, this must be a mistake! Itou can't possibly be the murderer! There must be some explanation to this!"

"Thank you, Hosokawa-san." said the judge as he turned towards Odoroki. "You may begin your cross-examination, Odoroki-kun."

"Thank you, Your Honor," said Odoroki before turning his attention towards Mr. Hosokawa.

"Hosokawa-san, how long is it for you to drive from your workplace to Miss Shimotsuki Yukino's house?"

The man shrugged. "About an hour's drive or so... but there's a traffic jam that morning near that area. So I only reached her house around 11.10 AM in the morning. Satsuki's house was about five minute's drive from Yukki's."

"Can you tell us more about this problem Miss Shimotsuki had?"

Mr. Hosokawa nodded.

"Shimotsuki Yukino or Yukki as we called her among ourselves; had a slight car trouble. Her car won't run, something about the spark plug being broken. It'll be some time for the mechanic to come so I decided to come pick her up."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Odoroki again.

The man shrugged. "Sure, I've taken a look at the engine. Since we didn't have a lot of time to spare, I decided to handle it later and go straight to Satsuki's place. I might not know much about repairing cars... but at least I know some basic stuff."

"Okay..." said Odoroki as he skimmed again at Hosokawa's testimony. "Can you describe the situation when you first found Miss Itou?"

The man looked at him in confusion before replying.

"Well, when we arrived to Satsuki's mansion... we tried ringing the bells. But then nobody answered so we tried knocking. It was then when we found out that the door was unlocked and entered the house. We hadn't expected to see the scene before our eyes. I right away called for the police."

"How long did it take for the police to arrive? Did you watch Miss Itou during that time?" Odoroki asked again as the man answered.

"About fifteen minutes. Yes, during that time I have Itou on my sight."

"What's her condition at that time? Did she made a move or anything? Did she tried to do anything... like throwing something—"

Minuki hurriedly nudged him as Odoroki looked back at her. "What?"

"Odoroki-san... do you want to proof Itou-san to be innocent or what?"

"I'm trying to do that, Minuki-chan—", he hissed back before turning back towards the witness. "Hosokawa-san, can you please answer that?"

The judge frowned.

"Odoroki-kun, I don't see where you are going from this."

"Your Honor, I just wanted to prove that my client might not be the only one who had arrived to the scene of murder!"

The judge blinked as he looked towards the prosecution side. "Err... Prosecutor Karuma, do you want to object—"

"I don't see what's wrong with the defense's move. The truth will always prevail at the end of the day!" said Karuma with a shrug.

The judge slowly nodded. "Very well, you can continue your line of questioning. You may answer that question, Hosokawa-san."

"Umm... well, Itou just stood there. It's as if she was shocked to the point that she couldn't response to anything. I had Yukki watch over at the entrance for the arrival of the police while I tried to get Itou to talk about what happened. It's like... she has seen a ghost! "

Odoroki nodded his head.

"Your Honor, Hosokawa-san had stated just now that during the time they had arrived, Miss Itou was still in a daze until the police arrived. Even though the gun was already missing from that time, she made no attempt to do the same with the knife! Such actions could not be logical if Miss Itou had been the culprit! The defense requests an extension of the trial in order for further investigation."

The judge appeared somewhat thoughtful at this statement.

"Hmm... I'd say it is plausible but this is all still a meaningless conjecture. In this case, there's still the matter about the defendant not having any other solid proof to prove her alibi before the murder. And we cannot determine for sure if your client was speaking the truth about the time when she had arrived to the scene. I'm sorry, Odoroki-kun you have not presented enough evidence for a reasonable doubt... I will have to announce a verdict right now." said the judge as he started to raise his gavel.

"OBJECTION!"

The judge stuttered as his eyes darted around the court.

"Who... whose voice was that?"

Odoroki blinked in surprise as he glanced towards the prosecution desk to see Prosecutor Karuma tapping her arm in frustration. It was SHE who exclaimed objection just now!

The judge blinked in surprise.

"Pr—Prosecutor Karuma! Did you just—"

"Of course I did... Your Honor."

"B-but, you're on the prosecution side!"

Karuma Mei clicked her tongue at the judge.

"Truthfully, the prosecution had to agree with the defense. After hearing some of the defense's unconvincing theories just now, I have to agree that there were still some things we've overlooked. And I had been thinking, if this case was truly simple there was no reason for Naruhodou Ryuichi to be assaulted. Thus the prosection would also like to request for an extention."

The judge blinked again. "Oh, I almost forgot about that! Prosecutor Karuma, do you really think that what happened to Naruhodou-kun was related to this case?"

She nodded fervently. "Of course! If this case had been handled by Naruhodou, he should have already pointed enough contradictions to warrant another extension for further investigations on the case. At least, even more convincing than that young one did. I also think there were still things left uncovered. Therefore it is too early to determine the verdict to this case."

The judge now appeared dumbfounded as he turned towards Odoroki.

"Ah, Odoroki-kun... do you also agree to this?"

Odoroki grinned nervously. "I—I guess so. I also find the case to be a bit fishy as well. So I umm... agreed with the prosecution. This case still has a lot of things that we do not know. And we still have no motive for the murder. I believe before any verdict is passed, we should first straighten out all of the facts first."

Karuma Mei smirked.

"Finally... something intelligent came out from that large head of yours, kid."

Odoroki frowned. "I admit that I missed that bit..." he murmured softly. _And did he just got another prosecutor calling him names solely because of his forehead? Was that the only thing that they had in mind when they see him?_

The judge started humming by himself again.

"Well, considering that both the defense and prosecution expressed the same view, this court will be postponed for the day. The next proceeding will continue tomorrow at the same time."

The judge slammed his gavel loudly as the crowd dispersed.


	4. Prelude to Mystery

"Whoa... that was a close call! Can't believe we barely made it past the first trial!" exclaimed Odoroki aloud as they walked out of the defendant lobby.

"You better buck up, kid. You're lucky that this is a special case else I would not be so generous with the likes of you!"

Odoroki and Minuki turned around abruptly to find a very dissatisfied prosecutor. Minuki hastily walked up towards her as she thanked Prosecutor Karuma.

"Thank you very much, Karuma-san. If you have not backed us up earlier, we would have probably lost the case today!"

"Don't thank me... I'm doing this for Reiji and Naruhodou. I don't want Reiji's efforts go to waste just because Odoroki here couldn't bluff as good as Naruhodou could." she said sternly as she shoved a glare towards Odoroki. But as she turned her glance towards Minuki, she noticed that the girl's expressions have become glum. Her gaze softened as she dropped the cold façade.

"Don't make such a sad face now, dear. I'm not that angry with both of you. I'm just saying that both of you shouldn't be so carefree right now. This time, I was here as the opposition and both of us are aiming for the same objective. If there's another case like this in the future, you'd be in trouble if you did not start to step out of that rookie card you're playing. Do you get what I'm saying, Odoroki-kun?"

"My thoughts are the same. What Prosecutor Karuma said just now holds water. Just because you've won several cases in the past doesn't mean you get to be careless. I can't always be around to fix your mistakes, Odeko-kun." said Garyuu Kyouya as he suddenly appeared from behind them.

Odoroki frowned. Yes, both of them got a point about that and what they have said made sense. But at the moment, Odoroki did not feel like having two seasoned prosecutors scolding him at the same time. Especially from Garyuu Kyouya nonetheless!

"I understand. I should be more careful and more alert from now on. I should have read the case files as much as I could before the trials. If I was more prepared—"

"Well, in this case you can blame my idiotic brother for having us run around haphazardly like this. I swear the only other time he had called me over so suddenly to help out on a case trial, was eight years ago. And that also was to help Naruhodou. So you can consider this my special service."

Odoroki smiled weakly, unsure on how to react.

"Err... okay. I guess that should teach me a lesson. Always be prepared, regardless of the initial circumstances when you received a case."

"Wise words... I couldn't say more myself. Though, Miss Karuma... this has been bothering me. If it was just to prolong the case and have it be investigated further, then I could have still been able to prosecute for this case. After the many case I've handled with Mister Forehead here, I should have proven myself that I could work well with him I—"

Prosecutor Karuma turned her glance towards Garyuu, her serious expression did not waver. "That was true. But unlike you or pointy-hair here, Reiji was more familiar with the way Narhodou worked his case. That night, Naruhodou did not just happened to call for him to save his life. Naruhodou was actually _asking_ him to help with the case!"

That got both of their attention as Karuma turned towards Odoroki.

"Odoroki-kun, did you remember last night when Reiji had called you to check if Naruhodou had called?"

Odoroki nodded. "Yeah, he did. But as I said last night, we couldn't possibly know if there was any since the phone at the apartment cannot keep record of callers calling in."

She shrugged. "That's because, Naruhodou really didn't place a call to the apartment. He called on Reiji right away, perhaps fearing he haven't got much time to leave any last message. I should say that was a wise decision-especially by him. He did not ended up having that last call as his _actual_ last message."

"Was that the only reason?" Garyuu mused aloud as Karuma kept glancing to her wristwatch.

"We'll discuss about this later. Let's go, Reiji should be waiting for us at the clinic."

"Oh yeah, Naruhodou-san!" exclaimed Odoroki as all of them left the court building in a hurry to head to the clinic.

xxx

October 24, 2.30 PM, Hikita Clinic.

As they entered the Hikita Clinic, Karuma Mei immediately led the others towards the reception centre as she called for the nurse in charge. After about ten minutes waiting, one of the nurses walked by to attend to them.

"May I help you, Miss?" asked the nurse as Karuma explained.

"We're looking for a patient named Naruhodou Ryuichi. He had been admitted here around ten last night. We're families and close friends." she said briefly as the nurse shifted towards the computer to have look up on the patients list.

"I see... Naruhodou... Naru—ah! There it is! He has been moved to a normal ward. Here's the room number—" said the nurse as she wrote a note and gave it to Karuma.

She shoved the note into her pocket as she signalled the others to follow her.

Trying to catch up with her stride, Odoroki gasped as they finally reached the elevator. "So yeah... Karuma-san, how can you be so sure that Naruhodou-san had called Mitsurugi-san for a reason?"

She glanced back towards them before giving them a shrug.

"That night, Naruhodou had been shot. He must have seen the face of his attacker. In that situation, if he haven't made it that night... the truth would be buried with him and whoever attacked him; as well as the real truth of this case would be lost. Considering this is Naruhodou we're talking about, he would not have sit tight and not do anything that could save his client. He would still leave a clue. He should know that best, seeing how many murder cases he has handled in the past. Including the one that involved his own mentor, Ayasato Chihiro."

"Might that be something that he left at his office?" asked Kyouya as she shook her head.

"Can't be... we've looked all over the office and found nothing. The office was even more messy when we found it last night but after some cleaning up over there, it was better. But we could not find any other clue or any sign of anything has been taken from there."

"Nothing? Not even one?" asked Odoroki as Karuma shook her head. "But that's—impossible! Then, what did Naruhodou-san went back to the office for? All of the casefiles and data on the case were at the apartment already. That day, he's already brought everything back home for the case. But then a few hours later he went back to office, supposedly checking on something."

The elevator door rang as it opened. The four of them entered and Karuma punched the button for the floor they were heading as the elevator door closed.

"Well, since no one else is going to tell us about that... we'll have to find out ourselves," said Karuma as the three glanced back at her direction again.

"What do you mean?" Odoroki asked as she answered.

"Don't be so dense. The incident still happened so there must be a reason after all for him to return to office. Unfortunate since at the same time the attacker was waiting for him. But since nothing was taken out, it doesn't seem to be something solid as a decisive evidence. For him to still be attacked, there was be some other reasoning. That's the only other logical explanation."

"What would you think that would be?" asked Kyouya as the elevator suddenly opened. A strange looking old person in doctor's labcoat entered the elevator as Karuma Mei frowned.

"You're here as well, pervert?" hissed Karuma as the old guy grinned at her, showing off his missing teeth.

"Mei-chan! Long time no seeing—I mean, surprising to see you here!" exclaimed the old patient who often posed as a the director of the clinic as Karuma snapped her whip threateningly at him.

"And oh... you knew Minuki-chan as well—" drawled the old coot as Karuma rolled her eyes at him. The elevator finally arrived to the floor that they wanted as the door opened. The four of them walked out as 'Director Hikita' called out towards them.

"Ah... Minuki-chan! You guys are visiting your father, right? Well... say hi to that frowning man for me. I couldn't stay near enough to check on Naruhodou-san without the guy scowling at me. And Mei-chan! If you changed your mind after all these time—"

"Get off already!" hissed Karuma as the elevator door closed again. She sighed as she turned back towards the corridors.

"Hmm... now, it should be around here—"

"Miss Karuma, did you know that uncle just now—" Minuki asked cautiously as the older lady glanced towards her.

"Ah, that pervert. He used to hang out around this old clinic I was once admitted into. That time I had been shot by a suspect and had to be warded for a while. That pervert was a patient there, but always running around with this labcoat and calling himself 'Director Hotta'. I hadn't expected that he would be doing the exact same thing at another clinic after Hotta Clinic had been closed down."

"Had Papa been admitted into that same old clinic as well, Miss Karuma?"

Karuma raised her brow at her at this line of questioning as she shrugged. "Oh, yes. How could I ever forget that. Naruhodou had been admitted after he had fallen off from a burning bridge into a freezing river in the dead of winter. Aside from that, he often had to visit that Hotta Clinic for various other reasons.

Minuki whistled to herself. "So that's why Papa seemed to know that weird uncle when he had been admitted here last time. I always wonder why Papa kept reminding me not to entertain that uncle too much while I'm here."

"And I thought I had weird feelings about the guy..." Odoroki said aloud.

"On that line of thought, I think we shouldn't have to worry about Naruhodou so much. Regardless how bad a situation was, he had always ended up escaping some dreadfull incidents with just a minor inconvenience. It's ridiculous to see how many times he manage to survive against all that when normal people could have suffered grave injuries..." Karuma shook her head. "As much as I find it ludicrous, I believe your father would be able to live through this. You don't have to worry too much about him, Minuki."

Minuki blinked at her before finally flashing an earnest smile for the first time in the day.

"Thank you, Karuma-san. You were right. Papa always did have that strange and outrageous kind of good luck." exclaimed the girl as the prosecutor smiled as well.

Odoroki sighed. The morning's trial was still bothering him. If not because Minuki was there to give him support, if Miss Karuma did not aid him as she did; the outcome of the day could have been serious. Indirectly, that would affect his reputation—Naruhodou-san's reputation as well—if he had failed to defend his client this time. What Karuma-san had said earlier was true. He was still considered to be a rookie in this judicial world of law and order. Even if he had already won some trials in repeat succession and maintained a perfect record, currently; of acquittal in the cases that he have taken, there should be no reason that he could take less regard of his true abilities and not assess himself of the things that he could do or could not. There are still a lot for him to learn of this world and he needed more experience before he could proudly claim himself to be an ace attorney. After all, so far he had manage to make do becase he had always been supported and helped by both Minuki and Naruhodou.

With his current ability... could he achieve a fair verdict for this case as well as for Miss Itou? After today's weak performance, he could not feel the confidence any more.

_I still wanted to learn a lot from you..._

_I wanted to truly become your apprentice..._

Could he... still be able to hold on to that wish? To be able to call himself Naruhodou-san's apprentice... did he deserved that right to claim him as a mentor? His mentor? Him... just a single young man with no prominent background, only made slightly special by the presence of his still unexplained, supernatural ability to perceive people.

"—san!"

He blinked.

"Odoroki-san!"

Odoroki gasped as Minuki fervently shook his arm to grab his attention. The little girl gave him a look of worry.

"Are you alright, Odoroki-san?"

He hastily shook his head.

"O-of course, Minuki-chan! Why did you think I was..." he exclaimed as Minuki stared at him, unconvinced.

"I don't believe you. Or else, why did you space out just now? Is there any problem—"

"No. No... there's nothing. Come on, Garyuu and Karuma have already left us far behind!" exclaimed Odoroki as he grabbed Minuki's hand and ran off to catch up with the others.

xxx

Karuma Mei could not help but let out a hint of laughter as the four of them reached the corridor where Naruhodou's room was situated. They entered the room to find a deeply asleep prosecutor sitting on a small sofa, placed near the bed; various files were laid scattered all over the floors and area. They would not have guessed it before this but Prosecutor Mitsurugi Reiji sure appeared to have worked as hard as the rest of them had.

She smiled as she walked over towards the man and gently ruffled his hair.

"You've still maintained this bad sleeping habits." she murmured softly as she shook the side of his shoulders. "Wake up, Reiji..."

Karuma Mei grinned again as Mitsurugi slowly opened his sleepy eyes and let out a long yawn. The man lazily wiped the side of his face with his hand as he greeted the rest of them.

"You're... late." said Mitsurugi as he sluggishly raised his arm to look at his wristwatch. "And I've only managed to sleep for an hour. I've been waiting for you guys since the time Akane called to tell me that the trial for day one has already finish. You guys sure took your own sweet time."

"Akane called? Isn't she coming here? I missed her at court after the session was postponed." Karuma asked as Mitsurugi nodded.

"Yeah... and she isn't coming here today. I've just told her to contact Itonoko and combine their investigation data together. Might as well as help the old guy with the investigation while I'm finishing my work here. We still have a lot of grounds to cover in this case and we only have two days left to do it."

Minuki sat beside the bed and held her father's hand gently.

"Mitsurugi-san... has Papa woken up yet?" she asked as Mitsurugi turned his head towards her. He shrugged.

"He was barely conscious for a short time but he's all right nonetheless. After all, he had lost too much blood last night. I barely had much opportunity to ask him what happened last night. This ordeal was tough on him as well, he could barely talk much in his current condition. So I— _we_ shouldn't expect much help from him. Basically, we have to start everything from scratch."

"So, have you found out anything?" Odoroki asked as Mitsurugi shrugged.

"I'm sure by now all of you knew that he called me that night. I thought earlier that it might be because my phone number was the first number in his phone list. But I was wrong. I've checked his phone records; he hadn't tried calling anyone else aside from me. I've thought about it. He mentioned that the case was not what it seemed and asked me to help out. He said nothing else. While we did talked about the case few day before this, I didn't recall him mentioning anything else worth attention."

Odoroki frowned at this. Mitsurugi sighed.

"When he had been awake for a short time, I tried asking him about it. He told me that we've been looking at this case in the wrong light. The situation in this case was similar with another incident in the past, so perhaps we needed to first think about it from another perspective."

"Another... perspective?" Odoroki asked as Mitsurugi shrugged.

"Perhaps by doing this, we could be able to figure what was wrong about this case and dig up the neccessary evidence to nail this case shut. I think he had several theories as to what might have been the case, but he was too tired by then. Guess we had to figure out the rest from this point on."

"What kind of theories did you mean by that?" Klavier asked as Miles cocked his head to the side.

"Perhaps it's best for us to talk more about this over a cup of warm tea. I'm famished. I bet you guys hadn't eaten yet as well since morning, right?"

Odoroki blinked as his stomach suddenly made a low rumble. His face flushed red as Garyuu chuckled.

"It seems that your stomach was too eager to accept that suggestion.. _Forehead_." jeered the man again as Odoroki frowned at him.

Mitsurugi smiled as he rose and walked towards Minuki.

"He'll be fine, don't you worry so much."

Minuki looked up towards him as she tried wiping her tears away.

"He said sorry if he made you worry."

Minuki perked up. "Did he say anything else? Something?" she asked hopefully as he shook his head.

"He knows that you could take care of yourself. As long as you stayed strong as you always did, he would not be worried about you. He wanted you to keep Apollo in check as always."

Minuki sighed before putting up her hardest effort to smile earnestly. "Well... that's so much like Papa. He always knows that I could take care of myself well..." She shrugged. "Well, let's have our lunch. You do look tired, Mitsurugi-san... and I'm sure is hungry right now!" exclaimed Minuki again as she took his hand and hopped off the chair. Mitsurugi smiled as he grabbed her hand before heading to the clinic's small cafeteria with the others.


	5. Rapid Progress

"So... what was these theories you were saying earlier, Mitsurugi-san?" Odoroki asked as he sipped from his small cup of coffee.

Mitsurugi turned towards Minuki. "Minuki-chan, did you remember what your father have told you about me? He did said he had told you that story when I came for a visit the other day."

Trucy blinked. "Ah! You mean about the time he had to defend you from a murder accusation?"

Mitsurugi nodded as Odoroki cut in. "Wait... what did you mean murder accusation?"

Karuma rolled her eyes at him. "Oh that one." She turned her attention towards Odoroki to explain. "During the first year when Naruhodou Ryuichi made his debut, my little brother here was accused for taking the life of this one defense lawyer over at Hyotan Lake."

Odoroki looked up to her. "You seemed pretty acknowledgeble about that..."

"Of course she do," said Mitsurugi. "Her late father was the prosecutor of that time. Anyway... that time, things had been so confusing. The way the real murderer had done in order to pin the blame of the murder on me, had been so flawless that no other lawyer would dare to take the case to defend me. Not to mention the very fact that Karuma Go was taking the case scared the lot of them away. But that didn't stop Naruhodou. Somehow he managed to turn things around and proved my innocence, as well for the other case where I'd long believed to be my fault. I guess he wanted to remind me about that case..."

"What did you mean by that?"

Mitsurugi snorted. "Well that time, I did something stupid. When the murderer pretended to be killed by me, the situation left me in a daze so much... that I've touched the murder weapon without thinking. That was why no one else would dare to take my case. Every single evidence had pointed towards me as the culprit, any other judge would have easily drop the guilty verdict on me. The fact that time I have been subjected with many other bad rumors did nothing but worsen the situation."

Odoroki blinked. "That... was almost similar with Miss Itou's case!"

"You think so? Well in any case, the situation seemed to be pointing towards that kind of conclusion. Naruhodou might as well confirmed his own suspiscions that night when he was shot." Mitsurugi took a sip from his tea. "But even if we know about this, we'd still need to find the evidence to back this all up. Or else it would all be meaningless." Mitsurugi tapped his chin as he pondered about the sitation. "I suppose our only lead is the case itself. Perhaps we need to reinvestigate everything and hope we'll be able to find some new leads."

Odoroki sighed.

"So, wha—how should you think we approach this case?"

Mitsurugi frowned at him as he put down his cup.

"What's wrong? You sounded unsure. Did something bothering you?" he asked as Odoroki shrugged.

"It's... nothing. I'm just having those down moods. Are you sure I could really do this case good—?"

"Why won't you? You've been doing well these few months with your earlier cases. Why should this one be any different? Did Mei do anything to make you feel inadequate?"

"Hey!" Karuma snapped as Mitsurugi grinned at her.

"You do tend to be too harsh on people, Mei. You need to remember that not all people are like me and Naruhodou... or even Yahari, to be able to survive past your whips. Others might not be able to see past that unique kindness of yours..."

"Hmph!"

Odoroki hastily interrupted him. "No... no, Miss Karuma was right. I'm still a rookie. There are still a lot of things that I have no experience in this field of work. I couldn't possibly—did not intervene before the judge wanted to give his verdict, the case would have been—"

"You can do it. You do have the same qualities as Naruhodou did. You should be fine. You think Naruhodou would let it stop him from helping people just because he lacked the experience? No. He stuck to his own beliefs and kept on doing the things he believed he could do. That should be the same for you!"

Karuma Mei glared at him. "I should have given you a bit of lashing from my whip as well from the very start. Do you think I'm scolding you earlier to tell you to give up?"

He flinched. "Y-you... you didn't?" Odoroki gasped in surprise as she snapped her whip once.

Mitsurugi sighed as he got up.

"You'd do fine, you just needed something to boost your confidence. Mei, I'm getting something to eat on the go instead. I'm going back upstairs to gather the rest of the files I left and drive to the precinct to see what Detective Itonokogiri and Akane had gathered. Want to join me?"

Karuma Mei shrugged.

"Sure, I'm already involved after all. It doesn't hurt if I lend a hand or two even more. You can count on me." she said as she too, got up from her chair. Mitsurugi turned towards Minuki.

"Are you sure you'd be fine? I've called Ayame to come by since Mayoi and Harumi would not be able to leave Kurain right now. She won't be arriving until later in the evening though. If you want to stay beside Naruhodou, it's better to wait for Ayame first. I'd feel better if there's someone with you all the time."

Minuki gave him a weak smile.

"It's okay. Minuki will stay with Odoroki-san for the time being. I still needed to point him to the right direction in this case. Will you call when Ayame-san have arrived?"

Mitsurugi smiled as he patted her head.

"Of course I will."

As the three of them saw the two leave, Kyouya let out a long sigh.

"I guess I'm stuck with you guys as well. This sudden change in schedule left me free for these few days after all, I might as well help you guys with the case."

Odoroki gave him a look of surprise.

"You? Helping us... why?"

Kyouya just shrugged.

"Remember, I was originally part of the prosecution for this case. I am more acknowledged than you about the details of this case apart from your mentor, Naruhodou Ryuuichi. I'm the best lead you have right now. I mean, even if Garyuu Wave has already out of business, I still have my influence in the industry. If we should investigate the production company, it wouldn't be harmful to have an ex-rock star lending a hand to you."

"Besides... if the little missy here needs a ride back to the clinic, I could always lend a hand. But we need to get back to the courthouse to get my bike."

Odoroki gave him a sarcastic look.

"You're kidding right? Us three... on your bike?"

Garyuu laughed out loud suddenly as he smacked Odoroki's back hard.

"What are you talking about? I'm only saying I'm taking the little missy on my bike. How did you come to the courthouse today?"

Odoroki felt a vein about to pop out of his head before he bit his lips to answer.

"I had a _bike._ A normal one, without any engine spare my own legs," he said as he gritted his teeth.

The other man chuckled.

"... I'll try to use the _slowest_ speed possible so that we won't leave you too far behind then." he said as Odoroki made an irritated growl.

"Well, before we start moving we'd better decide what our course of action would be for now..."

xxx

"So that time... instead of trying to figure the case out when there was no other fresh clues, Papa and his assistant ended up investigating about Hyosshi. Mitsurugi-san scolded him for going off track but Papa kept on it and somehow that lead him to finding new clues about the case. It gave a new direction to the investigation. It lead him to clues about the man who tried to frame Mitsurugi-san."

Kyouya whistled. "So even if the trail you're following seemed to have no relation to the case, it might be leading you on the right track—is that what you're saying? Hmm... somehow this made me want to change my thoughts about Naruhodou-san. I never know he was _that_ dedicated to find evidence that could help his client."

"Now you realize it... eh?" said Odoroki smugly. "So... perhaps what Mitsurugi-san meant about changing our perspective, is that we should look back to the leads we already had and look at it in a different light. Then perhaps we'd be able to find the clues we might have missed the first time around!"

"That's the spirit, Odoroki-san! I know you still had it in you!"

Kyouya smiled. "I'm sure we will. If the case was not solved even with this many of us tackling it, we might as well drop ourselves out of existence."

"Whoa... you're really serious about helping I can't believe it is really you in front of me!"

Kyouya fired a glance towards him.

"Odeko-kun... sarcasm is unbecoming of you. That aside, it's not that unthinkable for me to want to help you guys... and Naruhodou-san."

Odoroki raised his hands in defense.

"I was joking... I was joking!" he cried out as Minuki gave him a look.

"Joking is also not your good point, Odoroki-san. You're as funny as that uncle Shigaraki who used to tease Mitsurugi-san so much at random times."

Odoroki whimpered. _So sorry I was not as skillful with my words as you guys!_

xxx

The red sports car took a sudden stop as the two occupants jumped out of the car. Mitsurugi locked his car as he and Mei headed towards the Police Department building...

October 24, 3.40 PM, Homicide Investigation Department

"Detective Itonoko! Any new information discovered?" asked Mitsurugi as soon as both of them entered the cramped office and caught sight of the scruffy detective.

"Ah, Sirs! I been wondering when y'all gonna come here! We've got a lead!"

"Oh really? Spill it out then." cried Karuma as Akane popped out from another cubicle.

"There's a match!" the plucky detective exclaimed as she handed them both of the reports. "The bullet that you've recovered from Naruhodou-san's wound matched the one we've taken out from the victim in the Itou case. It's a .40 calibre bullet with the same ballistic marking as the other bullet. There was high probability that the attacker was related to the current case!"

"Great! Now how about the burnt remains we found near the place?" asked Mitsurugi as Akane shrugged.

"It was nothing important, it was just a misdirection. I can't believe the officer in charge could really wave all of this to just a kid's prank!"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "Well, you can't always assume every case has to be related to murder. I guess we really have to reexamine every evidence and testimonies that we've gathered so far, or at least enough to push Odoroki-kun towards the right direction. It was really his job to find his client innocent after all..."

Detective Itonokogiri turned towards him. "So does that mean I have to go back to the Detention Centre to question the girl again?"

Mitsurugi nodded. "Of course. Get her to talk more about what happened that day, we could have missed something earlier. Akane-san, you come with me to have another look at the crime scene—"

Mei shrugged. "I'll help with the questioning. It won't kill to have to hear her statement first-hand. It might even reduce the chance for us to make any mistakes and miss anything."

"So, that's settles it—"

"Prosecutor Mitsurugi! Wait a sec." said Detective Itonokogiri as Mitsurugi turned to him.

"What—?"

The detective scratched his head. "Umm... Mikumo-chan kinda dropped in earlier, so she sort of found out about this case. She asked if you needed any help."

Mitsurugi sighed. That kid still loves to barged into his business whenever she could.

Mitsurugi thought about it. Evidence or the lack of it in this investigation... that was the main problem that they were facing. Even if the current system had already started the new jurist system with much success, they still needed something to convince the jurors to think the same way as they did. Still, he shouldn't be taking the easy route out.

"Detective... if you do see her again, just tell her to be alert and see if she hear anything useful. If there's any, then she should inform me about this. Aside from that, tell her not to do anything unlawful."

Detective Itonoko scratched his head. "Umm... I try tell her. But sir, it's not like she won't do it anyway even if I told her so."

Mitsurugi shook his head. "I won't help if she gets into trouble, that I assure you. I could always find ways to get the evidence and witnesses I need. Plus, we already had a lot of people on the case as it is."

"Oh... all right then," said the detective before leaving. Karuma eyed the detective warily.

"What's that all about?" she asked as Mitsurugi shrugged at her.

"It's nothing. Come... let me send you off to the Detention Centre. It's on my way after all and I guess Itonoko already got a head start."

She turned to see the detective already left the place as she accepted the offer.


	6. Initial Investigation

October 24, 3.45 PM, Main Entrance, Shochiku Company.

Prosecutor Garyuu let out an amused laugh as he and Minuki waited for the arrival of Odoroki on his old bike. A few minutes later, they saw him coming as Odoroki paddled his hardest on his bike while struggling to catch up with them.

Odoroki gave him a harsh glare as Garyuu countered with his best of smiles.

"You... you monster! Why on earth you go speeding up at the last sprint?" cried Odoroki as he panted.

Kyouya grinned. "Because it's fun. What's the use of a very good hog if you don't have the courage to burn rubber and try reaching the farthest distance at a shortest time on it?"

The young prosecutor received the menacing glare again as Minuki slipped between them to break the fight.

"Now... now. At least Garyuu-san haven't left you by yourself to figure out the road coming to here. And the last lane was a straight road with no turnings! It can't be so bad..."

Odoroki frowned at her.

"No, Minuki-chan... not you too—!"

"—at least it makes a good practice for you in the future!"

"Practice?"

Minuki shrugged.

"Papa used to tell me that he had to often cycle his hardest to reach the courthouse because he woke up late half the time. He even had to get used to cycling while trying to finish up his morning breakfast's toast without accidentally hitting anything on the road!"

Odoroki cringed at the thought. So Naruhodou-san also had to bear with this kind of life during his early days. For some reason, he wondered if that was a good thing or premonition towards a glum future.

_I mean... compared to Naruhodou-san, Prosecutor Mitsurugi had a sleek red sports car!_

He wondered if this was a sign telling him that life as an attorney were not as profitable as working as a prosecutor...

"Come on... let's get to work. We don't have time to argue all day..." said Garyuu in the end as the three of them headed towards the main entrance of Shochiku Company.

October 24, 3.55 PM, Studio No. 1, Shochiku Company.

"Supervisor Hosokawa—?"

The lanky cameraman gave the three of them a look of surprise before pointing towards another direction.

"Go through this corridor and walk up a level. Take a left turn and walk straight on again until you find a row of offices at the sides. Hosokawa's office was the second one to the left."

"Thank you." said Kyouya as the three of them hastily left the site to head towards the office.

"Why we're meeting the supervisor first, Garyuu-san?" Minuki asked as the man shrugged.

"Why don't you ask Mister Forehead there? He seemed to know why we're pursuing the supervisor as well."

"Can you stop calling me with silly nicknames? My forehead wasn't _that_ big or wide!" Odoroki exclaimed aloud as Minuki turned towards him. He shrugged as he explained.

"Minuki-chan... did you remember today's session? During the time when the supervisor was called to give his testimony, he insisted very hard saying that there's no way in hell that Miss Itou would ever hurt the director. He said it with such strong conviction as well—"

"—which on the other hand brought us to the question. Why did the supervisor had high conviction that Miss Itou did not kill the victim? There must be a good reasoning on his part and that's what we're aiming to find out!" said Kyouya as Minuki stared at him in awe for the brilliant deduction.

Odoroki started grumbling about ex-rock star prosecutors stealing the limelight all the time under his breath...

The three of them stopped talking as they searched for Hosokawa Ryuuzo's office. When they have found it, Kyouya gave several knocks on the door before the three of them have been called in.

The middle-aged producer and script supervisor smiled as he recognised Odoroki and Minuki's face.

"Both of you were on Itou's defense team, right? And you are?" asked the man as he turned towards Kyouya.

The young prosecutor held out his hand as he introduced himself.

"I'm Prosecutor Garyuu Kyouya. I was supposed to prosecute for this case but due to some unexpected change of plans, I was removed from this case. So right now I am helping the defense to investigate."

The man nodded his head before shaking his hand and offering them to sit.

"No wonder you looked familiar. You used to be the lead singer and guitarist for Garyuu Wave, isn't it?"

Kyouya smiled. "Yes. That was correct."

"A pity the group had to be disbanded... if only that case did not happen. I actually had a mind to include some of your songs in our detective series and movies!"

Kyouya chuckled again.

"I'm flattered that you liked my songs, Hosokawa-san. Perhaps you could discuss it with the record company later about the proposal. I'm sure they won't mind."

Hosokawa smiled.

"I might just take up that offer, young man! Then perhaps we could boost our movie and drama sales up another scale as well!" said the man enthusiastically before getting all serious again. "So, what could I possibly help the three of you today?"

Odoroki shifted on his seat.

"Actually, Mr. Hosokawa... we would like to ask you more about the case. How well do you know about my client, Miss Itou and the victim?"

"Hmm? I thought you're supposed to know that. You _are_ her attorney, aren't you?"

Odoroki scratched his head nervously as Minuki cut in for him.

"Actually, the actual attorney for Miss Itou was my papa. But due to some... _mishap,_ Odoroki-san had to take over on his steed. So right now, he was as clueless as to where to start."

"Oh yes... Naruhodou-san, was it? I was wondering today on why he wasn't around. An accident, was it?"

Odoroki nodded his head.

"That's why we've decided to reinvestigate everything from scratch, Hosokawa-san... if you don't mind?" added Odoroki as the man just shrugged.

"I don't mind it at all. If this could help clear Itou's name and find Satsuki's killer in any way possible, I would do everything in my power to help with the investigations. Fire the questions away, boys."

Odoroki flinched a bit at him calling them as 'boys' but he chose to ignore it. It was better that they try to get as much information on those people involved as much as they could possibly get.

"Um... Hosokawa-san, can you tell me something? Today at the court, you seemed pretty convinced that Itou-san was not the murderer. Can you explain why did you strongly believed that she was innocent?"

The man smiled.

"Oh that? Well... because I've been watching over the kid was quite some time. Kaoru's a good girl, that one. Still new in this entertainment business but you can see that the kid's gotta lot of potential in her. Even when she got scolded by some of the more veteran actors or staff, she's the kind who would not talk back and learn from her mistakes. I'm one of the people responsible for lifting her name into the industry after all!"

"You seemed to be very proud of Miss Itou, Hosokawa-san." said Minuki as the man chuckled.

"Of course I do. That kid's got talent. It would be too bad if she couldn't make it big in the industry because of something like this. Someone must have set her up into this mess! Itou can't possibly have hurt Yumi, much less take her life!"

"Perhaps if you could explain how the relationship between Itou-san and the other staff had been like, we could try finding out if there's anyone who wanted to frame her. How about the relationship between Itou-san and the victim?" asked Kyouya in return as Hosokawa let out a long sigh.

"Both of them have been good. It couldn't have possibly got any better than that. Because you see, Satsuki was like a mentor to Itou. At the start of her career, Satsuki was originally an actress in this company. But later on, she realised that her talent was more to backstage production and scriptwriting. That's when she started working as a scriptwriter and occasionally given a chance to direct her own movie and dramas that she helped wrote."

Hosokawa sighed.

"So you see... Satsuki saw herself in Itou. That's why she took the kid under her helm and have the kid become part of her cast in most of her productions, usually minor roles so far. Because Satsuki wanted to teach Itou to try taking on as many different roles as possible so that she could become a great actress someday. That's why I cannot believe Itou could even try hurting the person that had given her so much chance to improve herself."

Kyouya frowned. "And you sure that was as far as their relationship went? How about the other staff? Did Itou-san have good relationship with the rest of the cast as well?"

The man shrugged.

"As far as I know, Satsuki treated Itou like her own daughter. That's as much as I know. As with the rest of the cast and crew, Itou was fine working alongside with them. Of course sometimes there's trouble amongst the casts during filming or rehearsals, but stuffs like that often gets resolved quickly and we continue working."

"Still, we could not exclude the possibilities of foul play. Tell us about the troubles that you have amongst the casts."

Mr. Hosokawa became suddenly thoughtful as he tried to remember.

"Well, there was one time Miss Shimotsuki had been fussing about how Itou always says her lines wrong. Or how she did not act her parts properly... but things like this were usual. Itou's still new... there were bound to be mistakes during filming. That's what the industry was about. But the kid can listen good... so if there was any mistake during her scene, that's not a problem. Itou usually can do better whenever someone corrected her or pointed out to her on what she should do."

"So... you don't have any problem with that?" Odoroki asked again as the man gave him a confused look.

"On what?On Yukki? Oh... you shouldn't have minded her. Yukki had been around in this industry for quite some time. Superstars like her do tend to act up a bit, here and there. That request to pick her up at her home was also part of it. Kind of put me at a tight spot there for a bit since I still had some business to settle, but you now these stars—"

Odoroki nodded. But still, something bugged him a little about what he said just now.

"How about your relationship with the victim? Do you know if there's anyone who would have wanted to kill her?"

The man frowned.

"I don't know. In fact, I have no idea why on earth anybody wanted to kill Saisuki. Satsuki and I went back a long time. We entered this company almost about the same time. You can say that we're close friends with each other. She always entrusted me with some important task if the need arise."

"So..." Kyouya started to say, "She never tells you if she had any problems lately? Anything that she may have been troubled about?"

Hosokawa shook his head.

"Nothing that I know of, that's for sure. And I never heard of anyone that she might have some trouble with. And most of her valuables and money was in the bank. Aside from her big mansion, she had lived quite moderately. And the neighbourhood that she lived in was not that prone to break-ins."

Odoroki sighed. That should be only as much that he could get from this man. He could not think of any other question that he would want to ask him anymore.

"Very well then, I guess we had nothing more to ask you about the case. We bid our leave then, Hosokawa-san—" said Kyouya as Odoroku cut him off.

"Is it fine if we hang a bit around here and ask some question to some of your staff here?" he asked as the man smiled.

"Sure, as long as you do not interrupt their work. Some of the actors and actress might not welcome you nicely if you did not approach them properly. In any case, I'll give you a list of some people whom you might want to talk to. They used to work with Itou one way or another. You can ask any of the crew if you can't find any of them." said the man as the three exited the room.

Xxx

October 24, 4.00 PM, Satsuki Yumiko's residence (Crime Scene)

Mitsurugi kneel over as he took a closer look at the door knob. Akane leaned over beside him as she raised her brows at him.

"What are you looking at, Mitsurugi-san?"

"Did you notice anything over this, Akane?" he asked as he pointed towards the knob.

Akane frowned. "Nothing much. We've already taken all of the fingerprints from the knob and isolated most of it. Most consisted of the victim's prints as well as some the people who worked with the victim when she was still alive. But we can't prove anything just from that. The prints might come from long time ago."

"You maybe are correct on that but I was not referring to that. I'm referring to here... see? There were no signs of the door having been picked or any signs of forced entry."

Akane's eyes lighted up. The door knob had no scratch or tool marks anywhere around the keyhole. And the door had no signs of it having any kinds of cracks or damage.

"You're right! There's none! Does that means... that the killer was someone whom the victim knows? Because the only way she would have invited the person inside the house would be if it was someone that she won't be suspicious of. Like friends... and families."

Mitsurugi frowned.

"Yes and because of that we can narrow the suspects down to those who have worked with her during the time she was still alive. And I've also looked up her information in the database earlier. She has no other living relative or closest family members."

"Not even a husband? Anything?"

He turned towards her. "Husband? Akane... you've just reminded me of something. During the autopsy of the body, the coroner had reported saying that he had found that the victim have some scars inside of her vagina; consistent with the effects of childbirth albeit via an operation. The victim would have to have given birth to at least one child in her lifetime,"

Akane gave out a cry of surprise.

"But... but, we've found no records of Miss Satsuki ever gotten married! Much less having given birth to a baby—!"

"Perhaps that information has been kept in secret. Who knows how people in these businesses think or handle their personal matters? Perhaps there was some personal issues involved that caused them to make these decision to hide about their past."

Akane started whistling. "You may be right. Things like these might be a normal thing for them to do compared to us."

Mitsurugi glanced at her before walking away to examine the bloodstains at the middle of the room. If he remembered correctly, the knife should have been used as a means to defend herself against the attacker. Perhaps some traces still remained on the knife as well as the bloodstains left here.

"Akane, something just struck me. Have the bloodied knife analysed again. Perhaps some traces of the attacker would have been left. And check the bloodstains. Perhaps not all of it belonged to the victim." he said again as Akane started barking orders to the officers nearby.

Mitsurugi glanced around the house as he pondered about the facts in the case. His mind brought him back towards the other young prosecutor, who seemed to want to help out in the case still; despite having been dropped off the case.

"Come to think... what were your opinions about that prosecutor named Garyuu? Have those thoughts changed any bit?"

He suddenly felt a cold aura behind his back as he immediately caught the sound of Akane angrily munching her karintou aloud from behind him. He smiled in amusement.

"Still bad... huh? I've thought so after hearing about what happened in the court this morning. Is that why you've cancelled your plans to come visit Naruhodou with the others after trial?"

Akane bit hard onto another karintou as she hastily chomped on it. "I guess so. I mean... I shouldn't be so harsh to him now, considering the circumstances with his brother... and the fact that he was really sorry that he had misjudged Naruhodou-san for so long. And Naruhodou-san had already forgiven him. But that guy still was very annoying I cannot stand him!"

Akane blushed for the sudden outburst before diving into another karintou. "But aside of that, I still have other work to do. Like that bullet taken out from Naruhodou-san..."

Mitsurugi nodded. "—yeah. And there's also another thing that troubled me. Something about this case doesn't seem to add up."

Akane turned to face the older man as she pondered over the statement.

_What was it that didn't add up?_


	7. New Leads

"— _yeah. And there's also another thing that troubled me. Something about this case doesn't seem to add up."_

"Hmm? What doesn't add up?"

Mitsurugi walked back towards her before grabbing a piece of karintou from her plastic bag.

"Motives. I cannot see any reason why the killer would want to kill the victim. And why was it so important that the killer even went as far as to try taking Naruhodou out of this game? What secret was so important that the killer would not hesitate to kill another person? I've seen many cases of what people would do just about anything to achieve what they wanted... but in this case, there weren't even any signs of anything being taken out of the house; much less anything that could have become a motive for murder. The victim was not even someone of great importance—"

"Sir! There's something that I think you should see!" Came a cry from the upstairs study as an officer ran out to get them.

Mitsurugi and Akane hurried to follow the officers towards the upstairs floor and into one of the room there. When they were inside, Mitsurugi and Akane could not help but let out a cry of surprise.

xxx

October 24, 3.50 PM, Detention Centre

The defendant, Kaoru Itou meekly entered the questioning room accompanied by a warden. She silently sat on her chair as she looked up towards Detective Itonokogiri and the stern-faced Prosecutor Karuma.

"Miss Itou—"

"Yes!" she yelped as Karuma Mei's cold voice echoed throughout the corners of the room.

She blinked in surprise. Had she overdid herself? The defendant seemed to be a bit scared. She tapped her fingers on the table a bit gently as to not alarm the girl.

"This was a standard procedure. Considering that the prosecution had been changed at the last minute as well as the extremely vague nature of this case, I would like to question you further in order to clear our facts straight. Do you understand me?"

Miss Itou hurriedly nodded her head.

"Yes, I understand." she answered meekly as Karuma Mei finally took a seat beside Detective Itonokogiri.

xxx

"Whoa... this was such a mess!" gasped Akane aloud as the forensics investigators around them busily taking pictures around the scene.

Mitsurugi walked closer towards the middle of the room as he noticed an opening in the wall. He adjusted his glasses a bit before he lifted a large picture frame up; which seemed to have been unhinged on one side. What he found later was something of a surprise.

It was a small metal safe, with a keycard and a number panel as its locking mechanism. This special feature ensured that only the owner; who would have had the keycard as well as the safety code, could have had the sole privilege to open the box and no one else.

Mitsurugi leaned over and tried to take a look at the safe as Akane darted towards his side. As he examined it closely, he could see that there were so many signs of tool marks that could be seen all over the surface of the safe. All marks were clearly seen and they appeared to have been made quite recently.

He sighed. So perhaps the mystery of the missing motive for murder that he had thought about earlier had been solved! The killer must have been after the content of the safe. This might be the answer that they were looking for earlier.

Mitsurugi straightened up as Akane copied him as well.

"So at least now... we would be able to find out why the killer would have wanted to kill the victim. It must be related to the content of this safe."

Akane shrugged as she wrapped her arm around herself.

"Unfortunately, as we could observe from these failed attempts to open the box... we could not open the safe without an exact keycard and code. How could we get into the safe and get the things kept inside for our investigation?" mused Akane aloud as both of them pondered about their current predicament.

xxx

Meanwhile, back at the Detention Centre... the interrogation still continued.

"Miss Itou, please tell us again on everything that have happen—"

"But Miss Prosecutor, I did not—"

"Miss Itou, just answer us. I've already explained it earlier; we're reinvestigating the case from the very beginning. Therefore, we needed to get every single data and information that we could get our hands at. If you are really innocent, the evidence will prove it for you. Now then, as I said earlier... what happened exactly during the morning of the twenty-first of October? Why did you come to the victim's house at that exact time? Tell us exactly as you know it."

Miss Itou stiffened a little as Mei's cold voice pierced into her, almost commanding her to speak.

"On that day, I was at home about to prepare myself a little bit of morning breakfast before heading to the studio. We still have to continue with our filming of the current movie, Mystery Girl. I had been chosen to act as one of the supporting roles in the movie. That time, the next scheduled filming would only start in the afternoon so I'm still at my house. I have no other things scheduled on that day anyway so I have no reason to come early. During that free time, I took the chance to have my rest in the morning and practice my script."

"About 9.30 in the morning, I've received a call saying that I should come to the director's house to discuss something. That was why, around 10.30 in the morning... I have set out from my house to go to Satsuki-san's place. I told Odoroki-san also about this today."

Mei's eyes narrowed. This was what she had been really after; another piece of a puzzle that could have explained some of the discrepancies present in this case. Earlier questioning had not asked about the specifics of this particular topic in detail.

"Who was the one who has called you? What time did the person called? And why did the person wanted to meet you?"

The girl shook her head.

"I don't know. The caller claimed to be the director herself but the voice was a bit different. But she said she had a slight cold thus the change of voice and still insisted that I came to the house at exactly 11. She said that it was a very urgent matter and I must come to meet her. But she never tell me specifically what was it. When I arrived there, the director was already dead."

She frowned. She thought that she could have at least gotten something from there. But wait? _Come to house at exactly 11 o'clock?_

"Are you sure that's all that have happened?" she asked again before Detective Itonoko cut her off.

"Sir, her previous statement has been consistent with today's. There was no change of facts. And she had passed the polygraph test—"

"That test means nothing. A very good actor could have easily fool the machine. There could be a chance—"

"Wait a minute! I am telling you the truth!" Itou suddenly protested. "You can't just accuse me of a murder that I did not commit! Ah! I have nothing of what you call those... alibis, was it? Was that why you were trying to push this crime on me? But I can swear to you, Miss Prosecutor! I did not tell any lie!" she cried again as she stood.

Karuma Mei's expression did not change.

"If that was really true, then write down all of your statement over here word by word and describe also your exact route towards the victim's place. If you are really innocent, there must be something that can prove it in your statement." said Karuma as she gave her a sheet of paper.

Miss Itou looked at her in confusion and sat down unceremoniously before picking up the pen and started writing out exactly what she did on that day. After she was done, Itonoko rose as he led the defendant back to her cell. The girl apologised to them over and over as she disappeared from view.

 _Now 'that' went well was it...? Not really,_ Karuma thought bitterly.

She frowned to herself before taking the paper into her safekeeping. As she walked out of the interrogation room, she pulled out a small luminescent stone from the inside of her pocket.

The only new information that she had achieved just now was the fact the caller had _insisted_ the girl to come to the crime scene at _exactly 11 o'clock_ in the morning. But at least she get to confirm that Itou Kaoru had indeed told the truth all the time she had been questioned.

Karuma looked at the stone again. She never thought that there would finally come a day when she would depend on something as unbelievable as a magical stone in her days as a prosecutor. But this magatama proved to be the real thing and seemed now to be useful in order to get to the truth.

From using the stone earlier, she could see that Miss Itou had truly spoken the truth. There was no Psyche-lock that could be seen as she gave out her statement. Not even when she had taunted her to speak and counter her accusations aloud. To think of all the people who would suggest her to use the stone during the interrogation would be Mitsurugi Reiji himself. So this was how Naruhodou used to get his clues in his investigations...

Karuma sighed. She should return this to Naruhodou when this case was over. She hurriedly put back the stone inside her pocket again as Itonoko returned.

She sighed. Not much that she could gather here now, she better be starting on another lead soon. Before she had any time to ponder about her next actions, Detective Itonoko informed her of another ask that they had just been asked to do.

xxx

Odoroki sighed as he sat slumped on a chair that happened to be left at the side of the building as they walked out of the third studio to get some air.

"Ah, this was frustrating! Do we have to walk around in circles trying to find our clues like this? How long must we continue this?" he gasped as he wiped the sweat off his face.

"My, you're one to complain much. It has just been forty-five minutes! That's not long!"

"It's long for me! And of all the people on this list, half of them were not around! And those that we manage to find as well could not help us much! What's the point of hanging around here?"

"Calm down, Odoroki-san! Try to think clearly. Perhaps we aren't looking at the right place!"

"Hmm... what are you looking at?"

Minuki jumped as the man beside her jumped as well.

"Ah! Don't startle me like that!"

Minuki and Odoroki blinked.

"You're the one who startled us!" both of them cried aloud as Kyouya hastily grabbed them to the side.

"Sorry about that... both of them were very tired. We had been looking for someone... no, anyone who had worked with our client recently or knows of her."

"Hey!" hissed Odoroki, "Miss Itou wasn't your client! Quit talking as if you're in charge—"

Kyouya suddenly flashed a smile at him. "But I'm still an attorney, there's no lying about that. And I am currently helping you guys at the moment so I _am_ part of the defense now—"

"But you're a _prosecuting_ attorney, not _attorney_ - _at-law_! There's a big difference there! You prosecute, I defend! Meaning you're not part of the—"

"Shush. Now you're dragging me to your kiddish level. I won't be fooled again." he said before turning towards Minuki who had suddenly started laughing.

"But I wouldn't mind it if it's you... little missy." said Kyouya again as she giggled again. Odoroki snorted angrily as the other man whistled in amusement.

"You three are very amusing. It's a wonder why none of you were involved in showbiz, you guys makes some great comic act!"

"Oh no... sir." said Kyouya as he turned his attention to him. "I've been into the showbiz before, just that it was not comedy. Don't group me with forehead here—"

"And I'm a professional magician!" exclaimed Minuki before Odoroki had any chance to retort. The man laughed as the three finally took a closer look at the man in front of them.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to insult or anything. Just that the three of you seemed so lively just now. So, what's the thing with Itou? Is she in trouble or anything?"

Odoroki blinked.

"You didn't hear? Few days ago a director and scriptwriter from this company have been killed. Miss Itou was taken custody as a suspect on her murder case!" exclaimed Minuki as the man gasped.

"Eh! Who—?" gasped the man as Odoroki immediately rushed to his side to help him so that he would not suddenly collapse to the ground.

"I think we should first tell you what had happened first." explained Kyouya as the three of them began retelling all of the things that had happened that morning...

Several minutes later, the man kept muttering to himself as he could not believe what he had just heard.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. I only just taken leave for several days... and this happened! What's going on?" the man gasped as Odoroki cocked his head at him.

"I'm sorry to have to suddenly give this bad news—" he said as the man waved his hand at his face.

"Don't mind me... I've worked with Miss Satsuki for quite a long time; I just hadn't expected something to suddenly happen like this. I mean, it's only just five days ago since I saw her myself to ask if I could take a few days off to recuperate."" He shook his head, "I can't believe she's gone now."

Kyouya raced his brows at him. "Recuperate? Were you in an accident before this?" he asked as the man laughed.

"No... none of that sorts of things. I used to be a stunt man, you see? But after some accident during filming last few years ago, I've decided that I've had enough of that and I quit. Still loved working here despite that and I liked helping out with things around here. Finally decided to at least make use of my skills and share my experiences to the young ones. I've become a stunt coordinator here."

"Stunt... eh!" Kyouya and Odoroki turned to stare at Minuki as she suddenly grabbed the paper that Odoroki was holding.

"Stunt... Stunt coordinator? You're a stunt coordinator, _uncle_?" she cried as she kept glancing back to and fro at the paper and to the man.

"Are you by any chance one of these people in here?" she asked again as she showed him the list.

The man gave a cry. "That's a list of everyone who worked in the production of 'Mystery Girl'! Of course I'm in it. See there? Nishikawa Kaito... that's my name. So what about it?"

Garyuu Kyouya gave him a concerned look.

"Sir, like we said earlier... we were attorneys. At least me and this big forehead—", he said as Odoroki hissed at him at calling him names again, "—we're here to find out more about the case."

"Really? Then you might just as well follow me a bit here, I had been on my way to another set earlier... means I'm needed somewhere else." said the man as the three of them followed him from behind.

xxx

Detective Houzuki Akane stepped out of the car as she slammed the door close. She turned around as she looked out towards the large company building area. Hope that she need not to be visiting places like this so often in the future, she dreaded those possibilities in the future if she ever got lost in these kinds of large place.

The driver of the car leaned out as he called for her.

"Akane, remember what we've talked earlier—"

She shrugged. "Don't worry about it... Mitsurugi-san. I'll see to it till the end of today."

"Oh, and earlier I couldn't reach Minuki's cell—"

She grinned.

"Odoroki and the girl should still be around here. I'll pass the message." she said as the man said his thanks and drove away.

Akane sighed as she turned and started heading into the entrance. Inside the building, Akane glanced around her as she stopped a passer-by who happened to be walking towards her.

"Excuse me, do you know where I could find Supervisor Hosokawa Ryuuzo right about now?" she asked as the girl looked at her in surprise before giving her a smile.

"Of course, I happened to be heading towards the place after all. He and the rest of the crew and cast were at the sets now. I'll accompany you there." she said as Akane thanked her.

xxx

October 24, 4.30 PM, Studio 3

The set the girl had mentioned earlier was quite large. Akane was suddenly taken by surprise as she first entered the studio. There was a 'room' in front of her as several actors and actresses gathered around a small table, appearing to be in some kind of discussion.

"So, Arakawa-san... what do you think about this situation? This case seemed to be growing even more confusing by the minute. And the number of victims is gradually growing in number as we speak! Is there something else that we can do to nab this murderer?" said one woman as a stern-looking man beside her answered her questions solemnly.

"We have to increase our watch around the premise and monitor everyone related in this case even more closely. We can't lose our touch now! The killer can't have the upper hand all the time, there will be a time when he'll eventually make a mistake. Everyone should try their best now to keep up with the investigation!" said the man as the rest of the cast exclaimed in agreement.

 _So the film that they were making in this set was a detective kind of story. No wonder the title was something corny like a 'Mystery Girl'_ , thought Akane to herself as the girl nudged her to follow.

They eventually came up to a man sitting beside the director's chair as the girl whispered to him something.

The man turned his attention towards her just as the director beside him yelled 'Cut!'. Everyone started to move around as the man motioned Akane to sit.

"So... what can I help you with?"

Akane showed him her detective badge.

"I'm Detective Houdzuki Akane from Tokyo MPD, you should remember me from today's trial."

Hosokawa nodded his head.

"I'd like to ask you about your ex-colleague, the late Miss Satsuki if you don't mind—"

Another man suddenly approached Hosokawa to ask about something as Akane noticed some people behind him that she recognized. She blinked as she noticed the other person tagging alongside them.

"Ah! Detective Houdzuki... you're here!" exclaimed Odoroki as she glared at the presence of Prosecutor Garyuu beside him.

Akane wrapped her arm around herself. "Hmm... I don't know that you're here. What a flashy guy like you doing... hanging with the defense team?" she asked as Kyouya shrugged.

"I just thought I'd help out with the case on the defense side—" explained Kyouya as his words fell on deft ears.

Akane turned back her attention towards Mr. Hosokawa.

"Hosokawa-san... earlier I've gone back to Miss Satsuki's house with my superiors. Do you know anything about the safe inside her study?"

The man frowned.

"Yes, of course. She usually kept most of her important documents inside that safe. Things like birth certificate, marriage certificates, real estate papers—"

"Wait! You said marriage certificates?"

The man nodded.

"Er... yes. I knew about Satsuki's marriage. But that hadn't last long. The couple decided to live separately several years later. But only a few knew about this. Satsuki only kept this fact between close friends."

"Did she have any child?" she asked to confirm as the man nodded.

"Yes, she did. It was a very sweet little girl. Satsuki had allowed her ex-husband take the custody of their only child, in order not to let the kid be affected by the kind of life her job entailed. Satsuki was still an actress during that time after all. She realized that with the way thing had gone; it'll be hard for the child to live normally."

She frowned.

"When was that actually?"

Hosokawa shrugged.

"About sixteen years ago. The kid should be around eighteen years old this year."

"Thank you for telling me that, Hosokawa-san. But there was another important thing that I needed you to answer. About her safe... do you know about its locking system?"

"I've been wondering about that. I know that the safe had a double locking system with the keycard and safety code. Is there something wrong about the safe?"

Akane nodded as she fiddled with her glasses.

"Sure there was! The killer had tried so hard to try getting their hands to it but by the looks of it, they failed. But we couldn't find anything at her house indicating if the card was around. And it doesn't seem that the killer had it though, he or she could have tried using it to open the safe. The safety code might still be a problem but cracking it is not impossible to do. That's what puzzling me! If the victim or killer didn't have it, who did?"

The man suddenly laughed. Akane stared at him in confusion.

"That was easy. It's here." he said as he took out a keycard.

"Satsuki gave me this to keep for quite some time. She was a bit of absent-minded herself and sometimes often misplaced things. So she asked me to keep this for her so that she wouldn't lose it."

"Ah, can I have it for a while? The content of the safe might relate to the answers to the case."

"Sure... please return it when you're done with it."

Akane shrugged. "Of course. We won't keep it that long anyway, only until the investigations are done. I'd like to thank you for the cooperation that you gave us, Hosokawa-san."

"Not a problem, detective. I would like to see this case resolved soon as well."

Akane placed the keycard into her coat pocket as Odoroki suddenly spoke.

"Umm... is it break time for the cast and crew now, Hosokawa-san?"

"—of course it is, silly. Or else you won't see all those film crews taking a break over there. I know that look on your face, you must be onto something. What did you want to ask now?" Akane scolded as Odoroki just laughed embarrassedly.

He turned his attention towards Hosokawa as the man looked at him with patience.

"I—since it's break time, would it be okay if I talk to Miss Shimotsuki right about now?"

Hosokawa gave him a look of amusement.

"Haven't you asked enough already? What did you do since I've last seen you?"

Odoroki's face flushed.

"Well... we haven't been able to ask that many people. Even then, we didn't get much information. And we have just talked with that stunt coordinator over there, Nishikawa-san—"

"Ah... I see your problem. And it so happened, not many of the cast members knew Itou much. Considering that for this film, we took in many new actors and actresses from all over. Obviously, you would have some hard time getting any information at all since they hardly even know each other apart from work. But Nishikawa was among the crew members who are in fact close with Itou." All of the turned towards Hosokawa as the man sighed.

He pointed his hand towards another room. "All right, Miss Shimotsuki was over there at the makeup room. You can talk to her over there. But don't talk too long. We're still in the middle of filming." he said as he called for his assistant to show them towards the place.

xxx

Odoroki gave the door several knock as Akane turned towards Minuki.

"Ah, I almost forgot. Mitsurugi-san wanted me to pass this message to you, Minuki-chan. Ayame had just arrived here and is now with your father. We thought we'd let you know."

Minuki's eyes lighted at the mention of it.

"Really? Then... I can go back to the clinic?" she asked as Akane nodded.

"Yeah, you can go see him again. But... after this I would have to go back to the crime scene and Odoroki-kun probably would want to tag along with me—"

"—of course I would want to tag along!" said Odoroki suddenly as he turned to talk to them. "Or else I wouldn't be able to gather enough information for tomorrow."

Akane frowned. "Now this might be a problem. Minuki-chan... would you mind waiting a bit longer before going back to the clinic? I know that you're able to take care of yourself but I wouldn't feel better to let you go off alone—"

"Hey... hey, are you forgetting someone... Miss Detective? I had my hog here; I could always send the little missy to the clinic—"

Akane looked up towards him as if he had just appeared from nowhere.

"Oh, _there you are_... Mister Glimmerous Prosecutor. Sorry I didn't see you."

"Oh, come on Miss Detective... you can't possibly still be mad at me? I assure you, I am very sincere in wanting to help with the defense. I have no hidden intentions whatsoever..." said the man as Akane looked at him suspiciously.

"You really can take Minuki back, can't you?" asked Minuki as the man smiled charmingly.

"Of course—" he said as Akane spat in disgust. "—and you're like that just because you're jealous, isn't it?"

Akane glared at him as Kyouya grinned.

"I did not!"

"Did too—"

"Did not! I haven't any thoughts of that!"

"No, you did and I can see it clearly on your face—!"

Akane grit her teeth as she glanced up.

"I did—" Akane stopped talking as she realized too late that her face was a small inches from Kyouya's. They were so close that she could feel his breath touched her skin.

"Hey! What are you guys doing out there?" said Odoroki suddenly as Akane immediately punched the prosecutor to the ground without thinking. How did he manage to drag her along in this childish banter...

"It's nothing!" she exclaimed as she hastily grabbed Minuki to enter the makeup room. Kyouya slowly got up to his feet as he smiled to himself.

xxx

"So what was it you all wanted to talk to me about?" said the actress haughtily as her makeup assistant continued to apply make-ups on her face.

"We'd like to ask you about what happened during the day of the murder." said Akane as the actress groaned aloud.

"Do I have to?" she moaned again before realising that no one was paying her any heed before giving a long sigh.

"All right. That day... as usual I planned to set out to the studio around ten. The traffic around the highway from my house to the studio tend to get pretty jammed around noon so I always left home early. And then when I was about to start the car, the engine won't run. So I called Supervisor Hosokawa to pick me up."

"Wouldn't it be better if you take a taxi or something?" Odoroki asked as she gave him a look of disgust. She shrugged before answering.

"Taxi? Who do you think I am? I'm an actress! I cannot be seen taking a taxi in public. And taking a cheap taxi to go to the studio is degrading to my image! Do you think that it was easy to be a star?"

Odoroki frowned. Ignoring her sentences after that, he swore his bracelet reacted for a second there...

"But... Miss Shimotsuki, wouldn't it have been faster with a taxi? We talked to the supervisor earlier. He said that because he had things to do, it took him a bit before going out to pick you up. Would that be inconvenient to you—"

"Those kinds of things did not affect me. After all, I'm part of the main cast. They wouldn't be able to finish filming anyhow if the main cast aren't present to do their part. So want it or not, they have no position to refuse my demands."

Odoroki shivered a bit. And now he started to understand a bit on what Hosokawa-san said about 'superstars and how they tend to act up once in the while'. But that feeling he felt earlier was gone again. He probably had not asked the right question. But what else could he ask?

He scratched his head again to think up another question before Kyouya cut him to the chase.

"What do you think about Miss Itou Kaoru?"

A strange sensation engulfed his being as Odoroki froze. He glanced towards Minuki. The girl gave him a look as well. There was something here!

Kyouya repeated himself again as both of them turned towards the actress. Akane raised her brow, wondering about their sudden peculiar behaviour but Minuki nudged her to not worry about it.

The actress shifted a little before speaking. But by the time she finished talking, any hint of nervousness that Odoroki sensed earlier have disappeared fully...

"Kaoru? Oh that rookie... she's nothing special. Around here, she's a bit like the studio's pet child. In some ways or another, she would always be taken in into some of the studio's productions; being cast in some minor roles. The late director was a bit too fond about her."

Odoroki felt it again at the last sentence as he and Minuki exchanged look again.

"Did you sense anything, Minuki-chan?" he whispered to her as she shook her head.

"I... I'm not sure. I know I felt something earlier... but I couldn't see it anymore..." said the girl as Odoroki frowned.

It was the same thing as he felt. Even the last one was almost vague to the point that he almost did not notice it. Talk about a good actress, Miss Shimotsuki could definitely mask her own emotions perfectly and never showing any weakness.

"Hey! You two over there! What are you two doing? And you boy... stop staring me with that strange stare!" exclaimed the actress as Odoroki quickly snapped himself out of it. He did not realise he was doing it unconsciously...

Kyouya and Akane looked at him pensively as the prosecutor turned his attention back towards the actress.

"Miss Shimotsuki, I know that this might be asked so often before... but could you please tell us again what happened that day? We heard it from the supervisor but we wanted to hear your version as well—"

"What do you mean about the late director being too fond of Miss Itou?" said Odoroki suddenly as he cut in between Kyouya's sentence.

The actress blinked.

"What do you mean? Why do you want to know about that?"

Odoroki frowned. Surely he had detected a bit of uneasiness from the actress earlier but that had been now covered in the anger the woman now showed her. He must be careful now. There was a hint here... and he do not want to have it slip away from him.

"There must be a reason for you to say that. Did the director gave any special treatment towards Miss Itou? You seemed to be a bit concerned about that. And earlier... when we had talked to Supervisor Hosokawa Ryuuzo, he also mentioned something about some problems that happened between you and Miss Itou." said Odoroki hurriedly as the actress started to calm down.

"Oh _that._ That's... that was nothing. It's just because that girl was still a rookie in this acting industry... I felt that all of these special treatments the late director had given her was a bit too unnecessary. I mean, in this industry... you can't just depend on your connections... you have to depend on your talent to act! I can't accept it that she should be allowed these special treatments at the studio! She's not even at the same level as me!"

Kyouya grinned.

"Miss Shimotsuki... were you jealous at her? I mean, jealous at Miss Itou Kaoru especially."

Suddenly the actress gave them the most distraught face that they could have seen from her before she immediately reverted to her calm and collected appearance. The actress laughed.

"What do you mean...? Me? Jealous? Hah! Shimotsuki Yukino felt jealous towards some nameless rookie actress? You have got to be kidding me!"

"But Miss Shimotsuki... that notion was not truly hard to believe. I mean even when my band was still around... at one point or another I would feel a bit jealous of my peers. Even as a prosecutor... I also felt some bit of jealousy towards my seniors and also the opposition party whenever I've read of their past big cases that I seemed to have missed the chance to get my hands to them. So... to me, it's not wrong to be jealous of another. If you can catch my drift—"

Odoroki turned to look at Prosecutor Garyuu Kyouya as the man smiled sweetly towards the actress. As if he was challenging her to counter his argument.

For a second there he had wondered about the statement just now. About being jealous about his seniors... as well as _the opposition party_. Did he just hinted to him on something? Could it be that the real reason that Prosecutor Garyuu tried so hard to make up for his past actions to Naruhodou-san... was because of this? Could Garyuu feel bad he let himself be used by his brother to frame Naruhodou-san, just because at some point he did want to take Naruhodou-san down?

Kyouya suddenly turned towards him as he gave him a look of concern.

"Something wrong, Odeko-kun?" he asked as he turned away from him. _Ah, that could not be it...,_ Odoroki shook his had, he had been thinking too much.

"Anyway... back to my question, don't you feel jealous at all?"

"Like I just said, why should I—"

"Like _you_ said, you _are_ a much bigger actress than Miss Itou Kaoru. Yet during this filming, that rookie actress received an even more special treatment than you have; despite the fact that you were more famous than her. Don't tell me you have absolutely not felt any jealousy towards her?"

 _Whoa, Garyuu was truly going all out to try egging the actress on_ , thought Odoroki by himself. For a minute there, he almost forgot that he was the defense attorney here... not Garyuu.

Whatever it was, the actress seemed a bit shaken up now. Perhaps, Garyuu had finally reached some nerves there...

"I... I have nothing more to say! Even if I did, what's your concern about it? It's not important if I even had a slightest feeling of jealousy towards Itou Kaoru. In this industry, things like that was not good. It's not good for such rookie to be pampered too much! It's bad in the long run." said the actress again as she rose from her chair.

"So that's all... officers. I have nothing more to say to you. And excuse me... I have work to do." said the actress as she stormed out of the room, leaving the four of them behind.

xxx

"So I guess that is all that we could do here..." said Akane as the four of them walked out of the studio.

She turned her attention towards the others. "So what did you guys want to do now?"

Kyouya shrugged. "I'm sending little missy to the clinic, if you haven't forgotten. Aside from that I don't know what else I could do..."

Akane shrugged.

"You'd better send her safely now... no speeding on the highway like a madman—" she said before he cut her in.

"Don't be such a wussie... little missy here haven't even complained a bit about it last time. You're the only one who made such a fuss over it. What... do you want another ride on my hog?" he asked as Akane looked away almost immediately.

Minuki sneaked a look towards her before smiling, as she saw her blushing face.

"Don't worry... I can take care of myself." she said as she held her hand. Akane smiled to Minuki, before patting her head.

"Say hi to Ayame-san for me, okay? I didn't manage to talk to her earlier when she had been calling Mitsurugi-san on his phone."

"I will!" said the girl as the detective turned her attention towards Odoroki.

"And what would you do now? You still have a long time to go before tomorrow's trial. You might want to go see and talk to your client before it got too late."

Odoroki nodded to himself before asking.

"But how about you, Detective Houdzuki? What are you doing after this?"

She shrugged.

"Me? Back to the crime scene, I guess. I still had to check out the safe again, it might lead to our true killer. Or it might show us their motive for killing Miss Satsuki. Either way, I still have a lot of work to do. I need to get back to the precinct to help Mr. Itonoko and Miss Karuma to process the rest of the evidence we've found."

"How long are you going to be there?"

She shrugged. "Depends on what else that I have to do... why? Do you want to take a look at the crime scene?"

Odoroki rubbed the back of his neck out of habit as he nodded.

"Yeah... if you don't mind me sneaking around the place as well. I promise I wouldn't get in your way..."

Akane shrugged.

"Sure... I would still have to look around to see if we had missed anything else. I don't think we are going to be there for a short time after all, that place was big. We don't want to overlook anything that could be important for the case."

"Good luck, Akane-san! I just hoped... if I could help, if only a bit..." Minuki started to say. Akane leaned over the little girl as she patted her head.

"But you are. Just stay beside Naruhodou-san with Ayame-san while we go investigate this case for him. Tell him to get well soon as well!" she said as Minuki started to smile.

"Of course! I'll do that!" she said as a taxi finally arrived for Akane. The four of them said their partings to each other as the four of them parted ways.

xxx

Minuki skipped out of the elevator almost too enthusiastically as Kyouya followed slowly behind her, looking too amused about herself.

"Wait up, missy... your papa ain't going nowhere anytime soon. Slow down."

The girl cocked her head at him.

"But you often speed up on the highway with your motorcycle regardless of the traffic, Garyuu-san. What makes you any better than me?" she countered as he grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah... you got me there, little missy." he said before looking down to see her staring back at him. "What?"

"Mi-nu-ki! Call Minuki by the name! Why'd you always calling me little missy?"

Kyouya blinked before smiling back at her.

"It's because you are your papa's little missy. And anyway, what else can be any cuter that that to call you?"

Minuki grinned shyly.

"You're right." she said as they continued walking along the corridors again.

"Anyway... did you like Akane-san, Garyuu-san?"

Kyouya, who had been about to drink from his water bottle; suddenly started spraying some of it out and coughed badly. He immediately stared back at her in surprise.

"What? What did you just said?"

Minuki stared back innocently.

"I don't know... Minuki seemed to notice it a bit, since this was the real first time Minuki have seen both of you together, like _really_. Not like when we're at the courthouse or just passing by across the street thing. It's _that_ being together thing... you know?"

Kyouya chuckled.

"Why not?" he said casually as he grinned by himself.

"But that's out of the question. At least for now. You saw her, right... Minuki-chan? Houdzuki-san cannot stand even the sight of me. Even now she acted like that every time she saw me around. There's no chance for me to even try to woo her."

"Oh... yeah. You're right. Umm... anyway, thank you for today. You've really helped us a lot—"

Kyouya shrugged.

"Don't mention it. It's the most that I could do..."

Minuki frowned as she noticed the saddened look that Kyouya had on his face right now.

"Are you... I mean, did you still felt guilty about your brother?"

Kyouya snapped out of his reverie as he glanced back towards Minuki.

"Uh... what? No... no, why did you think that I am?"

Minuki shrugged. "Do you think that I wouldn't notice it? Back then at that studio, when Garyuu-san had asked Miss Shimotsuki about her being jealous of Miss Itou; you've said something about yourself as well. That you also... to other people..."

"That—"

"Was that related to what happened before? I mean... to Papa, even?"

Kyouya looked at her with surprise in his eyes before giving her a shrug.

"Perhaps... perhaps, I still felt guilty to your Papa over everything that transpired in the past. I mean... that time, if I haven't pressed him too hard—if I haven't forced him to take out that fake page and present that thing to the court, perhaps everything would have happened differently. If only I haven't been so proud, if only I have not let my pride gets the better of me... just because I do not want to lose against the famous, Naruhodou Ryuuichi; the lawyer who was very well known to be able to overturn any verdict and solved many cases that most would have thought impossible to do. If I wasn't so tenacious back then..."

"But Garyuu-san... isn't that case already been solved? And it had been you brother that was in the wrong, not you! Papa would not put you to the blame..."

He shrugged.

"Maybe... but maybe he's just so good at hiding his emotion. After all... it has been seven long years until that case had been solved. Everyone who knows him then can obviously see how much he had changed. To tell you the truth... I was more afraid of your Papa now than several years ago when I first met him face to face in the court."

Minuki looked at him with surprise.

"Was Papa _that_ scary to you?"

Kyouya laughed nervously.

"It's not like that... it's more to the fact that your Papa now was more reserved, more guarded than in the past. He used to be very loose with everyone compared to now. Less serious as well. Take Prosecutor Mitsurugi for example. Your papa and him used to be an exact opposite of each other. Now? You can see that they were still different only if you looked hard enough; both of them seemed now to have a lot more in common in their personality compared to when it used to be in the past."

Minuki shook her head.

"Nah, you're wrong. Mitsurugi-san likes to frown even more than Papa and he's not into making lame jokes like him. So there's still some difference."

"Yeah but you could see it, right? Your Papa was more serious now than how he used to be, back when he first became a lawyer. Back then, almost no one could ever take him seriously. Because he always had that kind of carefree attitude about him; no one ever thought that he could ever become such a good lawyer. Yet his ability to trust his client wholeheartedly was what made him a formidable attorney."

Minuki smiled.

"Garyuu-san too... had admired Papa as well, do you?"

Kyouya's eyes widened a bit. "That... I'm not sure. But I've heard so much about him from my other seniors. Prosecutors Mitsurugi, Karuma... Kaminogi, most of everything that they have talked about him had been about how he was such a good lawyer. I guess... I find it hard to believe that Naruhodou-san was really that great. After all, the only other good lawyer that I know had been my brother alone. I can't believe that there was anyone else that could be a better lawyer than him. So that's why... I wanted to make up to him. I want... to at least, to reciprocate for what harm my brother had bestow on him—"

"Papa won't ask too much from you, you don't need to try so hard—"

A light-hearted laugh caught her attention as she turned towards the direction of the sound. The sound came from her father's room but that would mean...

Minuki hastily pushed the door open as Naruhodou and Ayame looked up towards her.

"Papa!" Minuki cried as she ran towards his side, hugging him tightly as Kyouya slowly entered the room. Naruhodou smiled as he patted Minuki on the head.

"Were you _that_ worried about me? Didn't you have any faith on me, Minuki?"

Minuki looked up towards him, teary-eyed before he laughed and kissed her on the forehead. Minuki hastily wiped her tears from her face as she glanced towards both Ayame and him.

"It's been a while since we've last seen each other, Ayame-san! So... what have you been talking about with each other just now?"

Ayame laughed.

"It was nothing... we've just talked about the past, and some of the amusing things that used to happen long ago. Ryuu-chan... often had a knack to get in a lot of trouble, even when he didn't look for it."

"Ayame... enough of that. That's embarrassing—"

"But it's true, isn't it? And I can't believe that you still kept that thing. After all this time..."

His face flushed a little.

"Why can't I? It protected me a lot of time, sort of... like a protective charm. It's hard for me to let it go. After everything that I've seen—of everything that I've known about Kurain. And it was your gift to me, how could I ever throw it away?"

Ayame smiled.

"I never thought it meant so much to you..."

"So what was it?" Minuki asked as both of them laughed again.

"It was my hood." explained Ayame. "It was what I used to wear while I had been a trainee in Hanazakura temple. That hood was to be worn to ward off the evil spirits from you. Considering that Hanazakura was a part of Kurain's school of channelling..."

Minuki grinned.

"Oooh, I've been wondering about that hood as well. Papa never got to explaining to me about that. He always averted that topic whenever I asked about it."

Naruhodou shrugged.

"You have always teased me about just everything that I do; did you think I'd be as careless to tell you even more things for you to taunt me with?"

She grinned before snuggling to him even closer.

"So how are you feeling now?" she asked as he smiled weakly.

"I'm fine... if what you call surviving and managing to stay alive after a bullet had pierced your body is fine. I guess that's about it I've had so far about near-death experiences. I mean after almost getting killed by the girl whom I thought was my girlfriend, falling into the freezing river from a nearly burnt bridge, getting hit by a car and still managed to stay alive after all that; I think getting shot wouldn't be so bad. I mean... what else could take me by surprise now?"

"I bet you think you're a superman now... after all that." Ayame scolded.

"Hardly..." said Naruhodou. Before Ayame could say anything more to add to that, he continued to speak. "I'm just saying that after a lot of life-threatening things that I've been through, it's hard for me to be surprised of anything."

He shrugged to himself before turning towards Kyouya.

"So what's the progress with the case?"

Kyouya gave a start as he smiled.

"Knowing you, you would have decided to lend a hand to my two little helpers despite being dropped out of the case. I know if you wanted to do something, even Mitsurugi would not be able to stop you."

"You... you didn't mind it?"

He shrugged.

"Well... both of you had been able to work together so well before. I guess it wouldn't harm the case if you helped Odoroki a bit. Mitsurugi had a lot of people assisting him after all; you'd be a nuisance to him anyway. Plus, considering that you were the original prosecutor assigned to this case, you'd be a lot of help to Odoroki right about now."

"Um... so, considering that you're well now could you tell something about—"

"Last night... or about the whole case altogether? Heh... if possible, I would like to not talk about that now. It's better that you guys figure out the truth by yourself without being influenced by me. Even with the Jurist system under way right now, you can't be lax in doing your own investigation. Evidence was still important after all and the answers are there for you to find."

"Garyuu-san! Papa was still resting!" Minuki scolded back before turning towards Naruhodou. "But we could still tell you what happened today, can we?" she asked again a Naruhodou slowly rested his head on the pillow.

"Why not? And Kyouya... you don't need to have to stand there all the time. Take a seat somewhere." he said as Minuki started to tell him about everything that happened since the first trial ended...

xxx

October 24, 5.15 PM, Detention Centre

Odoroki hastily took a seat on the chair as Miss Itou walked into the room. The girl smiled at him weakly as she sat before him.

"Sorry if it was a bit late, I've been doing a bit of my own investigation at your workplace earlier." Odoroki started to explain as she shook her head.

"It's okay. I've been called for another questioning again. This time, it was that prosecutor this morning as well as this other older detective. They've been interrogating me all this while anyway so pretty much you haven't wasted a lot of time. If you came earlier, you might have to wait until they were finished questioning me."

"What did they asked today?"

Itou shrugged.

"Pretty much the same thing I've been asked about, ever since I've been detained here. Just that... that female prosecutor had been asking me to tell more about the details about the case. Things like the exact time when I've set out of my house, when I've arrived to Miss Satsuki's place... things like that. And she had been concerned about the exact details that happened during the period of time before the murder. For a second there, I would have thought that the prosecutor was trying to help my defense instead of gathering information to get me the guilty verdict."

Odoroki laughed nervously.

"Well... hard to tell from their actions, I admit."

 _But considering that Miss Karuma and Mr. Mitsurugi as well as the main investigators had been Naruhodou-san's friends, it wouldn't be so hard to imagine that they would try so hard to get to the truth of the case. Guess having connections amongst the prosecution side as well as the police, was important after all,_ thought Odoroki to himself.

He would not have imagined how this case would turn out to be if he was not the one tied to this case because of Naruhodou and if his new mentor did not have these important connections about him. Perhaps things would have turned out differently.


	8. A Game of Tags

October 25, 10.00 AM, District Court

The crowd started to settle down again as the Judge slammed his gavel again for the day.

"The court will now resume for the trial of Miss Itou Kaoru." the judge began to say as he started the session.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor." said Prosecutor Mitsurugi.

"The defense is also ready, Your Honor." said Odoroki as well as the judge shook his head.

"I couldn't imagine I would have had a session like this one. Prosecutor Mitsurugi, I hoped there's a good reason for all of this." he said as Mitsurugi took a bow.

"My apologies, Your Honor. But I assure you... that everything have gone as it should. All of this was done in order for us to achieve the truth of the matter and nothing else."

The judge nodded his head.

"Very well then... I have to trust you on that. How about Naruhodou-kun's condition now? Is he well?"

Mitsurugi nodded his head.

"I can assure you, Your Honor. Naruhodou's condition was a lot more better now. He said he was sorry that he have caused everyone to worry about his condition. But unfortunately for now, the clinic would not release him yet until he has fully recovered from his injuries."

The judge nodded as he spoke.

"Good... good. One has to take care of one's own health, yes. Let other people take over the work while you recover your health back. Prosecutor Mitsurugi, you may begin your opening statement."

"Thank you, Your Honor." he said before bowing again.

"Even if the sea appeared calm, one should not assume that all is well. As beneath that calmness, a storm may be hiding to reveal its fangs. Similar to our case at hand today, this simple case might not be a simple case after all. Perhaps the underlining truth on this case have not yet revealed itself to all of us, thus that is the duty that we have to fulfil today! To uncover the hidden truth underneath this simple case."

Odoroki could not stop feeling at awe. Prosecutor Mitsurugi truly had a different aura than of Prosecutor Karuma. Even more different than the vibes that he felt around Prosecutor Garyuu. If Prosecutor Karuma's presence was like an aristocrat, then Prosecutor Mitsurugi would be like a knight whose sole mission was to fight for justice. To think that in just these two days he have confronted two veteran prosecutors in court for the first time, Odoroki could not tell if he should be considered lucky or not.

_And why on earth these prosecutors always had some fancy speech spoken out of their mouth while he himself never been able to appear as cool as they are during his time on the stands...?_

"Prosecutor Mitsurugi, you may call upon your first witness for the day." said the judge, breaking Odoroki's line of thought as the crowd started to quiet down.

Mitsurugi shrugged. "But before that, Your Honor... there's something I'd like to say."

The judge blinked in confusion. "Eh? What is it, Mitsurugi-kun?"

Mitsurugi smiled coldly. "Earlier yesterday... all of you must have heard about the incident befalling the previous attorney in charge of the defense. Well, it was no accident. Narurohodou have been attacked! While this may indicate that the defendant perhaps is innocent of the crime, there's is a possibility that the defendant have an accomplice! Thus, I will do all I can to find the truth today!"

"Attacked! My goodness... I hope Naruhodou-kun is alright."

Mitsurugi nodded his head. "He is. I've just spoken with him." He shrugged before raising his head. "The prosecution will now call upon Miss Shimotsuki Yukino to the stands!"

The crowd started whispering to each other as Odoroki stared towards Mitsurugi. _That statement just now, was Mitsurugi-san trying to connect the incident with Naruhodou-san with this?_ , he wondered silently as Minuki elbowed him.

"Don't think about it too much. Mitsurugi-san is still on the prosecuting side! Even if he wanted to help us to find the real murderer as well he cannot forget his own duty."

"Ah, sorry about that..." Odoroki gasped as he grinned sheepishly to her. He looked up again as Miss Shimotsuki entered the stands.

xxx

"Witness, state your name and profession." Mitsurugi started to say as the woman let out an outburst.

"You did not know me? How on earth did you not know? How can you possibly be living here if you haven't even—"

"Witness! Your full name and profession..." repeated Mitsurugi as he tapped his fingers on his desk.

Odoroki sighed. It was probably their bad luck to often have such difficult witnesses to handle. Why did the witnesses they kept getting just have to weird all the time?

The woman sighed.

"My name is Shimotsuki Yukino. I am an actress currently working under Shochiku Company for a certain movie production."

"Thank you." said Mitsurugi. "Can you state to the court of what happened on the twenty-third of October, the day of the crime being committed?"

"Very well." said the actress as she cleared her throats aloud to show her discomfort.

"On that day, I had decided to head towards the studio around ten. The traffic around my residential area can be quite packed during the afternoons so that was why I've decided to head off to the studios very early. But for some strange reasons, my car would not start properly. I've considered calling a mechanic to check the on the car but I was in a hurry. God knows when or how long it could be for me to wait until the repairs are done if waited. That was why I called Supervisor Hosokawa to pick me up. When Supervisor Hosokawa arrived, he said that we might as well pick up Miss Satsuki considering that she also lived nearby."

"When we arrived, we were taken by surprise. Miss Satsuki was lying on the floor while that Itou girl was holding a knife! It was so shocking! I can't imagine Itou would have gone so far as to shoot Miss Satsuki in cold blood!"

The judge nodded.

"Odoroki-kun, you may cross-examine the witness now." said the judge as Odoroki nodded.

Odoroki picked up his note as he started to address the witness. He frowned. Definitely a great actress, this Miss Shimotsuki. There was no hint of nervousness at all in her testimony. Not even a single weak spot. This might be a bother but that also meant he would have to cross-examine Miss Shimotsuki the normal way.

For a second there, Odoroki was glad that Naruhodou-san had coached him a bit on his tricks of the trade in the court during the span of time left after that Ese case. A part of him was relieved that the man had agreed to impart some knowledge to him. At least now, he would now not feel so awkward if he as much tried to bluff his way throughout the session. If Naruhodou-san could do it, so can he.

"Odoroki-kun... are you okay? Your cross-examination please..." said the judge again as Odoroki snapped out of his reverie. It seemed that he had unthinkingly slipped into his own thoughts.

_Well, here goes nothing... wait!_ Odoroki took another look at the transcript before glancing towards Minuki.

"Hey, Minuki... are you sure about this transcript from the witness?" he asked as she nodded.

"Of course! I've checked it again while hearing Miss Shimotsuki saying it aloud earlier. Exactly as it was written in there." confirmed the girl as Odoroki smiled. Perhaps it would not be so hard after all to go through with the trial today...

Odoroki straightened himself out before clearing his throat aloud.

"Miss Shimotsuki... can you please repeat your third statement?"

The actress looked at him strangely.

"Um, alright. Like I said earlier, I wanted to head out to the studios earlier that day but for some reasons that I could not understand, the car could not start."

"Can you explain why?" pressed Odoroki as the actress nodded.

"When Hosokawa-san had arrived, he said that the spark plug was broken."

"Were you able to use the car the day before?" Odoroki pressed again as the woman nodded.

"Yes. That's why I wondered why that day it suddenly broke down."

"You don't know anything that could have happen before that? Before you headed to the studio, did you see anyone who could have done anything to your car? How could you not notice anything different about the car?"

Miss Shimotsuki shook her head as she replied.

"No, on that day... I've seen no one who could have tampered with it. But even then I did not take the car out before that. How could I know that I would suddenly break down—"

"OBJECTION!"

Miss Shimotsuki gave a start as everyone else in the court started to murmur in confusion. The judge blinked for a few second before he turned his attention towards Prosecutor Mitsurugi Reiji.

Mitsurugi sighed. "Is this important? I don't see why the witness's actions prior have any relation to this case."

Odoroki glanced towards Minuki before nodding. Mitsurugi-san must have something planned by raising this issue. He stared at the note he just recently acquired from a random girl. He looked up towards the judge and Prosecutor Mitsurugi.

"Yes, this is important."

The judge nodded. "Very well. Witness, add this to your testimony."

Miss Shimotsuki started grumbling. "Very well. Prior to me calling on the supervisor, I did not take my car out that day. That's why I did not know if anyone could have tampered with it."

"OBJECTION!"

Odoroki tapped the paper he was holding. "Not according to this. I have here a statement from a housewife living nearby your house that she saw you driving the car earlier on that day. I also have this testimony from a shopkeeper, verifying the same thing. How could that car just suddenly stop and conveniently allowed a chance for Hosokawa to pick you up? Just in time so that both of you would be able to find the defendant and the victim at her house!"

Suddenly the looks on Miss Shimotsuki changed as she appeared to be slightly distraught. But moments later, that look completely disappeared as she regained her composure.

"Oh... that." said the woman coldly. "I never realized that it was so important. Yes, early that morning I did drive out in that car. I've just forgotten about it. But that was only to buy some groceries from this small store nearby. You have to understand that I'm a famous actress, if I have to walk out in the open I have to be careful not to be seen by any possible tabloid reporters or obsessed fans who might caught me off-guard. That was just it. I do not know what happened afterwards that made the car broke down."

Odoroki frowned. Was that supposed to happen? Should he press further? He had only said that aloud as a speculation but now there was that possibility. What if the actress _did_ sabotage her own car just so she could acquire a witness to prove her own alibi? He might need to press her further on this.

Odoroki let out a cough.

"Why did you not call for a taxi instead?"

The actress leered at him sternly.

"As I have told you yesterday, I did not call for a taxi because I do not want to. Like I've stated earlier, I am a famous actress. I have to be careful over every move that I make. I have to also consider my own safety as well. I would not want to take a ride on anybody's car whom I am not familiar with."

Odoroki nodded silently before looking up.

"But Miss Shimotsuki, I would like to ask. Why did you called Supervisor Hosokawa's specifically? Did you not have your own manager who could tend to you?"

The woman shrugged.

"My manager did not just manage only me. Besides, the talent agency that I was a part of was much too far from my place as well as the studio. So I find it not worthwhile to waste my time calling for my manager. It would take a much longer time to do so and I do not like to wait."

Odoroki frowned. Although her reasoning sounded valid, he could not help feeling that the actress was hiding the real truth. That her sole purpose was to have the supervisor as her alibi as well as a witness to back her up when she conveniently _found_ the victim dead in her house with Itou on tow. But he still did not have any evidence to back his claims and it was too risky to accuse her of anything right now.

Prosecutor Mitsurugi also appeared to be thinking the same thing as he looked up to see the serious expression on his face. But then again, the man always wear that kind of expression.

Minuki tried to cheer him up as Odoroki look up towards the transcript that he have on hand again. He have to keep pressing! There must be something that he could do. Miss Itou was definitely innocent, and it was up to him to try to at least get her out of the hook.

He skimmed back the whole transcript as he pondered over his next move. There was no point to press on the reasons as to why they decided to head towards the victim's house, it would led them nowhere. So that means he would have to finally touch on the most obvious contradiction of all in this testimony. Odoroki looked up to find Prosecutor Mitsurugi staring back at him. His gaze seemed to indicate that he had the same thoughts as he nodded his head towards him. Odoroki turned towards Minuki as she also gave her assurance.

Odoroki took a long breath.

"There's another thing that I would like to ask. Miss Shimotsuki, I need you to confirm this!" said Odoroki suddenly as his voice suddenly took a different, more serious tone. The actress almost jumped before acting calm as he spoke again.

"Are you really sure that you saw Miss Itou holds the knife in her hand when you and Mr. Hosokawa entered Satsuki Yumiko's house on the day of the murder?"

The actress stuttered a bit as she tried to answer the question.

"Of—of course! How could I forget—?"

"OBJECTION!" exclaimed Odoroki right away as he presented the bloodied knife.

"I have to object to that claim. This knife had been found underneath a chair, not far from the victim; according to Detective Houdzuki's testimony yesterday! While her fingerprint was found on the knife, Miss Itou had not been holding the knife during the time you and Mr. Hosokawa arrived to the scene! How did you say that you saw the defendant holding the knife at the time you've stated?" he said as Miss Shimotsuki appeared a bit shaken up.

"T-that's... I... haha! I've mixed it up! That must be it... you can't blame me! People tend to mix things up in their memories..."

"Miss Shimotsuki."

The actress stopped talking as her attention turned towards Prosecutor Mitsurugi.

"There was another thing that was bothering me. The details of yesterday's trial have not been fully revealed to the press. Specifically, the real cause of death for the victim. The fact that the victim had been shot to death had not been revealed to the public yet and the ones that were present yesterday as well as the hidden juror panel have been told not to reveal the details of the trial outside the court until it was over."

Prosecutor Mitsurugi clicked his tongue as he waved a finger at her.

"As far as I've been informed, you were not present during yesterday's trial. So how did you know that the victim has been shot?"

"That... that! I overheard from... from the supervisor! He was present yesterday... wa-wasn't he? It must be—and earlier you mentioned something about the previous lawyer. That other lawyer has been shot as well, isn't it?"

The courtroom suddenly went onto an uproar as the judge hastily ordered for everyone to keep calm.

"Order! Order! Keep quiet! Settle down!" cried the judge before looking at Prosecutor Mitsurugi in surprise.

"Prosecutor Mitsurugi! Is this true? Naruhodou-kun... has he been _shot_ few days ago?" exclaimed the judge as Mitsurugi shrugged.

"I guess he did. Though, the details of the incident was never release to the public."

Odoroki caught a fleeting look from Mitsurugi's eyes. Without thinking he exclaimed his objections. The judge turned towards him.

"What is it, Odoroki-kun?"

Odoroki stuttered. "Um.. ummm, despite the sudden revelation about Naruhodou-san... isn't it strange that the _witness_ knew about this? The matter about Naruhodou-san was not mentioned in detail in the news and no relation to it was made to this case. So how did the witness _knew that Naruhodou-san was shot?_ I cannot believe that Itou-san could have done it from her cell or if she had an accomplice—Naruhodou-san was _defending her—_ so shouldn't that mean that the one attacking Naruhodou-san **could be the real murderer**? Then that should mean..."

"HOLD IT!"

Shimotsuki Yukino suddenly cried aloud as she addressed the court.

"What you were saying—are you implying that the real murderer was ME? That's impossible! There's no way that I—wait a minute, why did you let this pointy-haired man accusing me? Mister Prosecutor!"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "The defense pointed out a likely possibility, I don't think you should be worrying about that as long as you have nothing to do with it."

The actress's face turned pale.

The judge shook his head. "Wait a minute, I have not heard about this! Did the incident with Naruhodou-kun was related to this?"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "Who knows. But just in case I've already registered the detective in charge of that investigation as a witness. Perhaps this other witness would be able to explain to us what really happen. The Bailiff, please call Detective Itonokogiri to the stands!"

Odoroki pursed his lips. _So this was what Mitsurugi-san was aiming for!_ He should not let this chance slip past him. For Naruhodou-san and Itou-san's sake!

xxx

The judge took a closer look at the detective as the man gave a shrug.

"Detective, please state your name and profession. And after that you may proceed."

Detective Itonokogiri nodded as he introduced himself. Odoroki chuckled as Mitsurugi started to scream at the detective when he started to feel a bit nostalgic for being able to take the stands again. The detective coughed.

"When I heard about the incident involving Naruhodou-san... I rushed to the scene and took over the investigation to help Prosecutor Mitsurugi. The place was a mess but later we realised that it was intentional. The incident with Naruhodou-san was not coincidental! We managed to identify the bullet recovered from his chest as being the same one that killed Miss Satsuki Yumiko. Other evidence also revealed a connection to one of the witnesses to this case."

Prosecutor Mitsurugi nodded his head as he pulled out a piece of evidence from his briefcase.

"Your Honor, this was the bullet mentioned by Detective Itonokogiri earlier." he said as one of the court officers took the evidence away.

"The court accepts this bullet into evidence." said the judge as he turned towards Odoroki. "You may begin your cross-examination, Odoroki-kun."

"Thank you, Your Honor." said Odoroki before turning towards Detective Itonoko.

"Hmm... Detective. What did you mean when you said the attack was not coincidental?"

The detective looked back at him almost in disbelief.

"Fancy you asked me that, kid. Weren't you the one having to take over his job to defend Miss Itou in this court? The attack happened the night before the trial begins, the probability that these two things happening right after another cannot be that coincidental. It must have a relation somehow! After all, Naruhodou had called Prosecutor Mitsurugi that night just to tell him that!"

Odoroki frowned.

"Can you explain that in more detail?"

"I think I had better explain it myself. I was after all the one directly involved." said Prosecutor Mitsurugi as he took out another piece of evidence.

"This was Naruhodou's cell phone. As you all can see, there were spots of blood on the keypads of this phone. Upon pushing the keypads, you can easily see that the number was for a speed dial option to call my phone number. It can be deduced that Naruhodou had tried to call me after he was attacked." said Mitsurugi as he took out something from his inner coat pocket.

"And this was my own phone. As I will show you now, there was a record of a call from Naruhodou at the same time displayed on Naruhodou's phone. And if all of you could sit back, I will replay the records of the conversation that night." he said again as he played the recordings through a loud speaker.

The whole court fell into silence as they heard the conversations aloud in the room. Minuki's expressions grew tense as she heard his foster father's weakened voice trying to call for help.

The judge nodded solemnly as he lightly slammed his gavel.

"The court accepts these two evidence into the record as well." he said as he motioned Odoroki to continue with his questionings.

"Before I continue, Prosecutor Mitsurugi... do you always keep records of your calls?" he asked as Mitsurugi nodded.

"Of course. You cannot know when a conversation on your phone can become an important evidence in court. And by keeping tabs on the records, if there were anything important said while on the phone, all would not be lost."

Odoroki nodded again as he turned towards Detective Itonoko.

"Detective, were you absolutely sure that the bullet recovered from Naruhodou-san's chest was the same one as the one taken from the victim?"

The man smiled confidently.

"You can definitely bet on that! The bullet taken from Naruhodou was of the same calibre and make as the one from the victim; it was a .40 calibre bullet. And we had matched the ballistic markings from both bullets. There was no denying, both of them matched perfectly! It can be deduced that both bullets came from the same handgun."

"And considering that the murder weapon from the first murder was still missing, it was of no surprise that the murderer would use the same gun to attack Naruhodou. Assuming that Itou Kaoru was not the real murderer... and no accomplices involved." Mitsurugi added as he addressed everyone in the court.

The judge nodded.

"It absolutely made sense. If the same gun used to kill Miss Satsuki was used to shoot Naruhodou-kun, it would definitely clear Miss Itou Kaoru's name as she was still in detention when that happened."

"Unless... Itou had an accomplice. But that would not make any sense either, because Naruhodou was supposed to be representing Itou Kaoru." mused Mitsurugi aloud as he addressed everyone. He suddenly smirked. "Of course... IF she was indeed innocent!"

"It certainly a pinch... what we're in right now..." Odoroki muttered softly before remembering some of the details from Detective Itonoko's testimony.

"Hold it! Detective Itonoko. Just now... you've mentioned of another piece of evidence. What was it?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" the detective asked as Odoroki pulled out the transcript again and read.

"You've stated this earlier on the last sentence of your testimony: _Other evidence found also revealed a connection to one of the witnesses to this case_. May I ask what case are you referring to?"

The detective grinned.

"Of course I would mean _this_ case, the murder of Miss Satsuki Yumiko."


	9. Abrupt Distractions

_"Of course I would mean this case, the murder of Miss Satsuki Yumiko."_

This is it, one of the traps that could turn the case for better or worse. He had to tread cautiously on this or he might instead led the court to believe Miss Itou had an accomplice instead of pointing towards the real murderer. Thing like that is not something unlikely to think about, since despite the fact Naruhodou-san often been able to clear his clients of their charges—if his own client had been the guilty party, he would still not allow them to go free. _Even if he was supposed to be defending them._

That... could be made a reason to make people believe that Miss Itou wanted Naruhodou to die in order to hide her sins. He cannot allow that to happen! Miss Shimotsuki must be the real culprit, and he would prove that to all!

He shrugged. "May I ask what was it, the evidence that you have found?" he asked again as Detective Itonokogiri chuckled.

"I thought you'd never ask." said the burly detective as Mitsurugi gave him a warning cough, urging him to not delay any longer.

"Err... yeah, as I was saying... that night, a neighbour who lived in the same building as the one Naruhodou-san's office was; has heard something strange. The old lady called the police claiming that she heard a gunshot, but the officer at that time did not believe her. When Prosecutor Mitsurugi arrived, he asked the old lady's statement to be taken. That was before Naruhodou-san was found. After that, I've gone asking the old lady again as well as taken a look at the burnt object found nearby where the officer claimed might be the cause of the misunderstanding. It was a burnt remain of a firecracker but when I checked it out, it doesn't appear to have been set off anytime before."

Odoroki frowned.

"What do you mean by that?"

The detective sighed.

"You know right, when you set off the firecracker, sparks fly and all that thing? Well... if the cracker was really set off earlier over there, some traces of sulphur should be still present in the air. And there would be some other traces that we could find still lingering around."

"And this one did not?"

Detective Itonoko nodded. "You can bet it did not. The way the paper casing had been burnt didn't appear to be normal; more like it was burnt on purpose. Like someone lit the paper casing up to make it appear as if someone had set it off."

"So, what was that evidence you've found that could be tied with the people involved in Miss Satsuki's murder?" he asked as his heart suddenly beat faster. If the result was what he thought it was, then this was the big break he was looking for!

Itonoko shrugged.

"I've sent the paper casing to trace department and the found some partials. They managed to isolate some of it and ran it into the database. They've got a match! The fingerprint partial matched the fingerprint of one Miss Shimotsuki Yukino."

The court gave a sudden uproar as the judge slammed his gavel some more.

"The actress?" The judge frowned before turning towards Mitsurugi. "How was that possible? Mitsurugi-kun, did you intended to implicate your own witness? This was strange—"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, Your Honor. Even if the evidence seems to point to my witness, there's no proof that she was the murderer... or if Miss Itou was indeed innocent. Perhaps there was an explanation about this from Miss Shimotsuki—"

The judge shook his head. "Bailiff, get—"

Suddenly the whole courtroom shook as the earthquake lasted for several minutes. Everyone started to cry out in alarm as Detective Itonokogiri hastily rushed towards the prosecution bench. As the shaking stopped, everyone started to calm down while Detective Itonoko helped Prosecutor Mitsurugi to stand.

The judge blinked his eyes as he glanced around to see if everyone was alright.

"Whoa... that was some earthquake. That caught me by surprise," he gasped as he turned towards the prosecution.

"Mitsurugi-kun... are you alright over there?" he asked as Mitsurugi nodded shakily, as he slowly got to his feet with Detective Itonokogiri helping him.

"Yeah, I'm... fine. I should be fine any moment..." he said as Detective Itonoko continued to support him. Even as he said it, Mitsurugi's face was still pale as Minuki looked on him with concern. Odoroki stared at her curiously. _What do earthquakes have to do with Mitsurugi-san? He recalled Naruhodou-san used to tease the man about it before._

The judge nodded in understanding before one of the bailiff run into the courtroom suddenly, looking very much alarmed.

"Your Honor, sir! There's some problem over here—" cried the bailiff as all attention turned towards him.

"What is it... bailiff?" the judge asked as the man cried out.

"The earlier witness, Miss Shimotsuki Yukino have gone missing!" cried the bailiff as the court once again went into an uproar.

The judge hastily slammed his gavel down as he shouted order to the court.

"Silence... everyone! It seemed that this case had taken another unexpected turn again." said the judge as he nodded towards the prosecution.

"Since it has come to this, I would like to postpone this session for tomorrow. Until then, I hoped that the police would find and bring back the witness here for further questioning."

"Yes sir!" cried Itonoko as the judge slammed his gavel for the final time for the day.

xxx

"Ah... there they are!" cried someone as all of them came out of the hallway.

Odoroki looked up as Detective Houdzuki and Prosecutor Karuma greeted them.

"How's the case?" Akane asked as he shrugged.

"They postponed it after that earlier quake. It seemed our new suspect might have run away during that commotion."

Akane frowned.

"Miss Shimotsuki disappeared?" she asked as Odoroki nodded. Garyuu Kyouya appeared behind them as Karuma Mei turned towards Mitsurugi.

"You're okay?" she asked as the man shrugged.

"Couldn't be any better—" he muttered as she smirked.

"Heh. You really need to get over that, it has already been so long since. I bet you've been hiding under the table just now."

Odoroki turned towards the two as Mitsurugi snapped. "It's not that bad!"

Karuma tapped a finger on her cheeks. "But seriously, the earthquake earlier was quite big. It even managed to wake Naruhodou for a while."

Mitsurugi blinked. "Eh? Naruhodou—how is he?"

"How's Papa?" cried Minuki at once as Karuma shrugged.

"He's okay. He's a lot stronger now and already he could stay awake long enough for a short chat. Funny enough, the first thing he said when he woke up was—'Is Mitsurugi all right?'—hahaha!"

Odoroki and Minuki turned towards Mitsurugi as the man's face turned red. "That man... I could take care of myself _fine."_

"Mitsurugi-san." The man looked up as Detective Houdzuki spoke. "You should go to the clinic. There's something Naruhodou-san wanted to talk with you."

Mitsurugi frowned. "Is it important? Shouldn't he be asking for Odoroki-kun instead?"

Odoroki perked up at the mention of his name. What did Mitsurugi-san said? Does this have to do with what happened that night? Naruhodou-san still has not told them what happened that night. Should he be heading to the clinic instead and talk with Naruhodou-san?

He shook his head. "No, Mitsurugi-san. _You_ go talk with Naruhodou-san. I'll be fine. Whatever it was that both of you could be discussing about; if this would be mentioned during tomorrow's session, I should be able to make use of it to my advantage. Perhaps I should call it, my homework?"

Garyuu laughed. "Seriously, Odeko-kun. You're not meant to be acting so cool."

The spikes on Odoroki's head twitched. "Hey! Let me be cool for a second, kay?"

Karuma sighed. "Well, if it would make you worry less... I'll be taking over the investigation for the prosecutor side. It shouldn't be hard, we have enough hands to work on this. I'll send the report to you by the end of the day so that you could prepare for tomorrow."

Detective Itonoko nodded his head. "You don't have to worry, Boss. I'll get that runaway actress by tomorrow's trial if that's the last thing I do! You can count on me! I'm on fire!" said the detective as the prosecutor sighed.

"As long as you remember to drive carefully." Mitsurugi reminded as Prosecutor Garyuu grinned at them.

"I'll go with the detective and join in with the search party," he said as Mitsurugi nodded to him.

"Then perhaps... I'll try checking up on Miss Shimotsuki's house. Hopefully we could find some other clue to nail her in." said Odoroki as Akane slapped his shoulders hard.

"You're not going there without me! I'm not letting you run off with _my evidence!"_

Karuma Mei shrugged. "That should cover all our bases. So Reiji, don't slack off!" she said as all of them parted off to different directions. Mitsurugi whistled to himself in amusement. He looked down towards Minuki, who had remained with him.

"Now, isn't this amusing? If I'd know better I would have thought _all of us were investigating this case for the_ _defense side!_ " He shook his head. "I admit things like this used to happen in the past... but not in this kind of magnitude."

Minuki grinned. "But then... isn't it because everyone wants to help Papa solve this case?"

Mitsurugi chuckled.

"Perhaps. Though if you had asked me if this could have happened years earlier, I wouldn't have believed this could happen."

Mitsurugi frowned as his phone suddenly rang. He turned it on to find a message from Karuma.

**"I forgot to tell you. Your other friend called earlier to say that he'll be visiting Naruhodou as well. Have fun!"**

He cringed. " _Other_ friend? Don't tell me... it's Yahari? Oh man... why did this start to turn into some kinda reunion?"

Minuki looked at him with puzzled expression before dragging him along to head out to visit her father...


	10. Investigation

Odoroki whistled aloud to himself as he entered Miss Shimotsuki Yukino's mansion.

"Whoa... nice house! Living in a big place like this for me would surely be like a dream come true. _Sad that that dream's not gonna happen anytime soon..." exclaimed Odoroki suddenly as Prosecutor Karuma scoffed at him._

"Heh, what a foolish thing for a fool to think about..." she said before shaking her head.

"Still, this was saying something. With my current salary right now, I would need to starve myself all year just so I could pay to get buy houses like this. And I thought it's hard to manage my place... wonder how people keep this place tidy..." exclaimed Akane as well, as Karuma shook her head.

"Well, that's none of our business to know. Let's go!" said Karuma sternly as she let them into the house.

Akane sighed as both Odoroki and her followed the female prosecutor into the house.

xxx

October 25, 2.00 PM, Shimotsuki's household

Odoroki went silent as he looked around the house.

"Weird..." Akane glanced towards him.

"Why?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know. Somehow... this place did not feel like someone lived here. It felt a bit... empty."

He turned to find Akane opening a new packet of karintou as she started eating. "Not our job... MUNCH MUNCH... to judge her sense of...MUNCH MUNCH... house décor..."

Karuma turned around as she addressed both of them. "All right, this is it. I'm not sure what is it we're supposed to find here but considering Miss Shimotsuki ran off after that slip about Naruhodou's shooting, there must be something she's hiding." She turned towards Odoroki. "But by no means you should interpret me allowing you to participate on this search as if I'm helping you on the case. I'm still pursuing this as the _prosecutor of the case._ "

Odoroki nodded his head. "I understand this perfectly, Miss Karuma."

Karuma blinked as she tried to mask her surprise. "Ah well, good to know you understand your situation."

xxx

October 25, 2.30 PM, Ward Room XXX, Hikita Clinic

"So... I'm here. What is it you want?" said Mitsurugi as Naruhodou started to grin.

"Why the defensive stance? I can't help thinking about you whenever earthquakes are involved..."

Mirsurugi shook his head.

"It's been a long time already, can you stop teasing me about this? Even if I still gets fidgety about it, I won't be running around like headless chicken when that happens!" he replied haughtily as Naruhodou laughed.

"Sure... but certainly as a friend, I should be allowed to at least be concerned?" he said as Minuki happily sat beside him.

Mitsurugi snorted. "Heh, I can't win against you... eh?" he said before frowning. "Shimotsuki fled the court today... after we mentioned your shooting."

Naruhodou frowned as well before turning away. "So... it was really her. I guess it wasn't a dream."

Mitsurugi bit his lips. "So it was her—the one that shot you that night?"

Minuki looked at him worriedly as Naruhodou shrugged. "Guess it is. After sleeping too long, I started to doubt my own memories... but it looks like I'm not remembering it wrong."

"What happened that night?"

Naruhodou glanced towards his friend.

"It was unexpected... I was careless. I guess I should have never drop my guard, considering the history of that office. When I read Itou's case, I had a suspicion that the real culprit may perhaps be among the people they knew. Yet, because there's still a lot of unknown pieces, it was unlikely we could identify the real culprit so soon. Even with the new system, without anything solid to bring forth—it would be hard to decide on any kind of verdict. There's still a limit on how much I could bluff my way out. And then I recalled the old case, when you have been accused of murder. The circumstances of this case was a bit similar with that one... so I wanted to look back on how I handled that one. And then... I received a _late visitor_."

"So you were shot at your office, then?" Ayame asked as Naruhodou turned towards her, slightly embarrassed.

"Yes, that was careless of me. It never crossed my mind to have anyone coming to the office around that time and I didn't plan to stay long. I thought I would be taking the file and just return home. Well, aside from that I thought just maybe... I needed to clean up some of the mess at the office. But just as I was about to go home, Miss Shimotsuki appeared and asked me to pull out from Miss Itou's case."

"Pull out from the case? But why?" Ayame blurt out as Mitsurugi laughed, distastefully

"She probably heard of your old reputable fame so she wanted to stop you from digging into the case any deeper, am I right?" he said as Naruhodou nodded.

"Perhaps it was exactly that, as you said it. I should have sensed it earlier, her coming at that hour should have hinted that it was no ordinary social visit. But you know me, isn't it? There's no stopping me once I accepted a case. I will do all I can to get to the truth. So I told her just that and the next thing you know it, she shot me."

Mitsurugi frowned.

"But that doesn't make any sense. She can't have just shot you suddenly without some sort of trigger. After all, there was no sign of her presence in the crime scene at Satsuki's house. No evidence that could implicate her had been found during that time!"

Naruhodou shrugged. "Well... I wouldn't know what. And I better not influence you about the case. After all, I have a lot of imagination... isn't it?" Minuki stared at Mitsurugi curiously as the man laughed.

"Hah, then by rights I'm not supposed to share this information I've recently found the other day at the victim's house. Considering you're going to be one of the _indirect witness_ now."

The other man grinned. "Oh wow, finally that chance came about, eh? I'm always wondering if I could one day become one of the _prosecution's witness_. So, you've found a helpful clue... huh?"

"You can bet I did. But, don't you want to be on the defense's side? This _was_ originally _your_ case."

Naruhodou shrugged. "Well... that's before I got myself shot. Then again, this could be a good practice for Odoroki-kun. That boy still needs to learn a lot before he could bluff his way as good as me."

Mitsurugi laughed. "Hah! That would be interesting. I will not be treating your _successor_ special, you know? Are you sure that won't be such a handicap?"

Minuki grinned as she saw the mischievous look her Papa was wearing. "Come to think... Papa, Odoroki-san was saying something similar. That he would be treating this as his homework, so he would not be consulting you about the case... or the shooting."

"Hmm... I wonder what he would do once he saw me on the witness stand..." Minuki giggled as Naruhodou winked at her. "So, Minuki-chan... you should keep this a secret from him."

The young girl smiled. "Okay!"

Just at that moment, someone started barging into the room. The four of them turned as the disgruntled man cried out in surprise. "Oi, Ryuichi! What is this I'm hearing you getting shot?"

Mitsurugi and Naruhodou exchanged amused glances. "Of course, Yahari had to come now..."

xxx

Odoroki peered closer into the cupboard appeared to have been custom-made so that it fitted perfectly underneath the stairs. For some reason he felt pulled into paying more attention towards this cupboard compared to the rest of the rooms on this floor. Then again, he didn't feel that he would find anything useful elsewhere around here. Miss Karuma and Detective Houdzuki were searching the rooms upstairs. A part of him felt that he better not get in their way for now.

He tapped his chin as he looked around.

If Miss Shimotsuki was the real murderer and smart enough to not leave any trace of herself at the original crime scene, she would not have been so stupid as to leave the any evidence out in plain sight, even in her own house. She should have anticipated that the police might want to take a look at her house some time or another to search for clues.

But if that is true, then finding any trace of her crime now in her own house would be hard. If Shimotsuki really did hide something over here, it might have been somewhere that was not really obvious and somewhere unexpected.

Odoroki sighed. Either way, it was not going to be smooth sailing for him today. Or not...

Odoroki backed away from the rack he was examining as he suddenly hit on something and fell. He started to stutter and apology before looking up to see a strangely clad girl staring back at him. It took both of them nearly a minute before realization took over.

"Aaaah!" both of them suddenly cried aloud as Karuma and Akane rushed over.

"What're you doing here? Who are you?" Odoroki exclaimed as Akane pulled something from her pocket and point it to the stranger.

"What happen—Freeze! A thief!" she cried as Karuma readied her own whip to attack. The girl raised both her hands in surprise as she also started to stutter.

"Wait... hold! I'm... yeah, thief—no! I'm no—but wait a min... Mitsurugi-san—I mean... really... I meant—no harm, ack!"

Karuma Mei frowned before lowering her whip as she caught some of her words.

"Mitsurugi—? What about Reiji? Who are—eeh?"

Odoroki and Akane jumped as Karuma Mei exclaimed loudly.

"You... Aren't you—Ichijou Mikumo? That kid from that case many years ago?"

The girl grinned. "Karuma-san... don't tell me you've forgotten me already! Also... Akane-san! Don't tell me you forgotten me as well?"

Akane blinked before finally recalled the identity of the girl. She shrugged. "Haa... you cannot expect me to remember everyone that I met. It's not scientifically possible! Give me a break here... there's a lot of things going on right now— " she said in her defence before sending a barrage of karintou missiles at the girl. She sighed before turning towards Odoroki to explain. "You can drop your guard now. Mikumo-chan is a self-proclaimed Great Thief. She appeared few years ago and somehow gave a hand in helping Mitsurugi-san when he had been involved in a series of related incidents. Eventhough she's not a part of the law enforcement, some of her nifty gadgets had been quite helpful."

Karuma Mei shook her head. "Well, it has been so many years... isn't it? Even before Naruhodou Ryuuchi took on that _unfortunate case_. This girl somehow was involved in several cases that my little brother, Mitsurugi Reiji... had the unfortunate fate to have been caught in. That's all."

Odoroki nodded as the girl named Mikumo exclaimed. "I'm not self-proclaimed! I _am_ THE Yatagarasu the second, and the only thing I _did_ steal is the truth! You guys might have forgotten but I did help a lot in—!"

"Enough!" exclaimed Karuma as she shook her head. "I just _had_ to remember those _dreadful days_. Hey, Ichijou Mikumo! Why are you here... and I thought the last time I saw you, you were planning to recreate Yatagarasu as a _three-women team_."

Mikumo shrugged. "Ah, well... I heard overheard about Mitsurugi-san's situation from Itonoko-san, so I thought of helping out. Though, I haven't been able to find anything. As to that other thing, well... it's not that easy to find that much women lawyer and prosecutor to join me, eh?"

Odoroki scratched his head in confussion before addressing Mikumo again. "And what are _you_ doing here anyway?"

Mikumo shrugged. "Well, I find the whole thing about the case was a bit funny... and with Mitsurugi-san's friend almost killed, I thought maybe I could find out something by myself. And I did, helped a bit. Didn't I gave you that note the other day... Lawyer-san?"

Odoroki blinked. "Ah! You were the one... that time!"

Mikumo grinned. "Hehe... I'm good, eh? There's no one else who could dig out the truth like me, no criminals could hide—"

"Why did you do that? I could just as well be investigating this case by myself... as well as Karuma-san and Houdzuki-san—why did you have to go so far—?"

"Whoa there... It's not as if I _forged_ those statements I gathered or coerced those people to giving their statement, I did that to help you!" Mikumo snapped immediately. "I originally wanted to give that to Mitsurugi-san but he told me to give it to you. Well, if it was Mitsurugi-san's friend... that legendary lawyer, I wouldn't have done it. That man should be able to turn the case around and reveal the truth even without my help! But you... I had my doubts, so I thought about helping."

Odoroki felt his face heating up as he noticed Karuma and Houdzuki snickering. He shook his head. "Well, sorry if I don't look so _reliable_ to you! So since you're here... what did you found?"

Mikumo shrugged as she addressed the three of them. "I don't find much, the actress who lived in this house didn't exactly act unnatural these few days after all. But I did found something."

Karuma Mei frowned. "What was it then?"

Mikumo gently took out a box from her bag before showing it to them.

"I notice this box seemed a bit suspicious-looking, pretty weird seeing this ugly box sitting alongside her makeups and pretty accessories—that person being an actress and everything. I thought perhaps I could show this to Mitsurugi-san." She shrugged. "That actress, seemed a bit protective about the content of this box... after all. I was being careful with it, not to leave any prints or do anything to it. I even put the box into a sealed plastic bag!"

"Let me look," said Karuma as she carefully unsealed the bag and opened the box. Odoroki and Akane gasped as they realized what they were looking at."

"A guncase... but where's the _gun_?" Odoroki exclaimed as Mikumo sighed.

"I don't know anything about that. _She_ might have taken it out."

Karuma cursed softly under her breath. "This is bad. Our _witness_ ended up on the loose and _armed._ "

Akane already on her phone. "I'm informing the Itonoko-tachi about this!"

Odoroki bit his lips. What was going on with this case?


	11. Reversal

October 25, 2.55 PM, Shochiku Studios, Set 2

Prosecutor Garyuu Kyouya tapped his feet impatiently as Detective Itonokogiri questioned every single person on the set about the suspect. The man returned back to him, looking dejected.

"Sorry sir, seems none of them cast and crew saw Miss Shimotsuki all day today..." said the detective apologetically. "Might as well be goin sumwhere els—"

"Ah... what you officers doing here this evening? Is there something wrong?" came a man as he addressed both of them. It was the producer and script supervisor, Hosokawa Ryuuzo.

"Ah, Supervisor Hosokawa... pardon us for appearing suddenly like this. But we would like to know if anyone had seen Miss Shimotsuki at all today?" said Kyouya immediately as the man reached them. The supervisor looked at them strangely.

"Hmm? Wasn't today Miss Shimotsuki supposed to be testifying in court? Was there any trouble with her?"

"Miss Shimotsuki went missing just now. In the middle of the court session, even!" said Detective Itonoko as the supervisor suddenly gave a cry.

"What? You mean... Yukki... she—she might be responsible of Satsuki's murder?" the man exclaimed as he shook his head in disbelief. "—impossible!"

"Not impossible." said Kyouya grimly. "—She have a lot of motives to do it, personally or even collectively. We cannot overlook any possibilities, Satsuki-san's murderer might be more than one person or done by a completely unknown person. Nowadays, people can get into crimes over the most ridiculous reasons. And ince she run away, we needed to treat her as a suspect now."

Supervisor Hosokawa laughed.

"Surely it can't be so! There must be an explanation over this matter!" said the older man as Prosecutor Garyuu shrugged.

"I used to think that what my brother did when he used to be a defense attorney was right and accused Naruhodou Ryuichi as a sham. Now look at what reality has shown us! You can't judge people by their appearance only."

Hosokawa shook his head again. "But seriously... you're not pulling my leg, right? You guys really think that Miss Shimotsuki had something to do with the case?" he asked again, this time looking really worried.

Garyuu's expression did not change as Hosokowa sat back on his chair, looking totally at loss. "Perhaps. Maybe she was the real killer or maybe just an accomplice. In the end, we still needed to further investigate this."

Hosokawa let out a gasp before collapsing onto his chair. "I can't believe this. How could... how could things happen like this? I've known Miss Shimotsuki from at least two productions under this company, I never thought she was the kind of person who would take another's life just because of personal gains. I guess even I myself was inexperienced in this world of entertainment business—"

"Don't trouble yourself about this, Hosokawa-san. Leave the investigating and supposing to us, we'll find the real criminal soon enough. I am sure the evidence gathered would reveal the truth to us all."

The man shrugged.

"Thank you. In the end, you ended up being the one consoling me despite you also the one coming here bringing me foreboding news."

Garyuu smiled weakly.

"So... you really don't know anything as to where Miss Shimotsuki would be?" he asked again as the man shook his head.

"I'm sorry... I cannot help you. But perhaps, there's someone who could."

Detective Itonoko and Prosecutor Garyuu glanced towards each other as the blond man asked him eagerly.

"Great! You know someone who can help?"

The man nodded hesitantly.

"Perhaps. He was after all Miss Shimotsuki's manager. He might know something more about her than I do."

"Where can I meet this manager of hers?" Garyuu asked again as Hosokawa told him to wait a bit. The man went off to call one of the crew members as a young girl came by to give him a folder. Mr. Hosokawa returned as he addressed Prosecutor Garyuu again.

"Here it is..." said the man as he flicked over some pages. "Psi-Neu Talent Agency, quite a small agency I guess but they have grown in popularity lately with the appearance of big stars like Shimotsuki under their wing. I think you won't have a big problem looking up the place." he said as he passed a business card to Garyuu.

"That's Shimotsuki's manager... Saruwatari Izuki. You could just look him up at the agency or you can call him right away. His contact address and number are clearly written there on the card."

"Thank you very much, Hosokawa-san." said Garyuu as Detective Itonoko also slurred his gratitude as well.

"No problem. I hope it all turns out well for everyone. If you meet Itou, send my regards to her as well."

"No problem." he said before turning towards Detective Itonoko. "Come on, detective... we've still got a lot of work before us!"

"You bet'cha boss! I'm right behind you!" cried the detective as both of them hurried towards their next destination.

xxx

_Odoroki looked up to him. "Eh, the office? Did you leave anything important behind? Perhaps I could—"_

_Naruhodou laughed before stopping the lad._

_"It's okay. It's just a short trip there. I'll be back just in time for dinner."_

_xxx_

_"Tonight's surely is my lucky day..."_

_He turned as she saw her with the gun in her hand. "Eh... is there something wrong Miss—"_

_xxx_

_Chains flying around her as several locks popped out of nowhere. He gasped as the gun on her hand was raised towards him._

_BANG!_

xxx

Naruhodou jerked violently on the bed before realising it was just a dream. He slowly turned his head to his side before noticing Ayame lying asleep at his bedside. He looked around before he caught sight of Mitsurugi sitting nearby. He smiled weakly.

"I thought you'd be out there investigating the case. Or even looking for the missing suspect. Why're you here?"

Mitsurugi looked up from the folder he had been reading before nodding his head to his side. Naruhodou sighed as he finally caught sight of her foster daughter sleeping on his lap.

Mitsurugi shrugged. "I still have my people working on the case, I could manage sitting here while waiting for their updates. _Since those people were too eager to help out anyway."_

Naruhodou sighed before slowly lifting himself up without rousing Ayame.

"Did I fell asleep?"

"Yeah..." said Mitsurugi before sighing. "Are you sure about testifying tomorrow?"

Naruhodou chuckled. "Yes I am. If I can even run around looking for evidence _last time after falling off an old bridge and being swept by fierce current,_ I could do this."

Mitsurugi glared at him. "You almost died, you know. Like really. This is the closest you've got to actually kicking the bucket. I... I was really terrified, honestly."

"Sorry about that," said Naruhodou apologetically. "I guess no amount of bad jokes can make people forget about this incident, eh?"

He sighed. "Still, I'm sure glad I'm alive. I can't just up and leave... _those kids especially._ Not yet anyway."

Mitsurugi turned to look at the sleeping Minuki. "You still haven't told them about their mother?" he asked as he turned to his friend. The man shrugged.

"Well... it was better if Yuumi-san was the one to tell them the truth."

Both of them were silent before Mitsurugi spoke again. "So... nightmares?"

Naruodou blinked. "Well... maybe. Talking about what happened to me that night might have triggered a memory. Unpleasant as it was. Still, it wasn't as bad as yours. I'll live." He cocked his head back at Mitsurugi. "So how about yourself? Even if it's already too long since then, it's not easy to overcome your own traumas. Especially if it was something that affected you deeply."

Mitsurugi shrugged. "I'll live. Even if I did not ask for it, you'd still would want to comfort me whenever I'm troubled by it. Wouldn't you?"

Naruhodou grinned. "Sure! And even if we're already in our thirties now, even if you come crying to me I wouldn't mind keeping you company. It'll be like _old times_ , like when we're still kids—owww!" he exclaimed as Mitsurugi pinched him on the sides.

He suddenly looked around in concern. "Come to think, where is _our_ idiot?"

Mitsurugi perked up. " _That_ idiot? Heh, he's out for a while. Don't worry about him. If he caused any trouble I'll happily dump him into the trash chute myself."

"Haha. That's a cheerful thought."

xxx

"Karuma-san! Over here!" cried Akane as the rest of them hurried towards her direction.

"Look here..." she said again as she showed them a card. Karuma frowned at her before taking a look at the card. Her expression changed as she read the card word by word.

"What was it... Karuma-san?" Odoroki asked as Mikumo peered out from behind him.

"It's a business card." she said plainly as the three of them cast her a look of confusion. Karuma turned around and smirked, before showing it to them.

"This is too easy. It's a business card for a shooting range situated not far from this district. I'm checking this out." she said as she continued examining the card. Akane shrugged.

"Seems like this is as far as we can find over here. I'm taking this case to the forensics to determine what kind of gun used to be in here."

Odoroki turned around to give the house another look. Detective Houdzuki was right. It's been several hours since they've started searching this house. It was unlikely they could find anything more in this place."Come to think, I should take this chance to go bck to the office. I still haven't gone there since yesterday." said Odoroki said as he sighed.

"You might not find anything much over there now, aside from a _very messy office._ But it doesn't hurt to take a look back at the office." said Karuma before turning towards Mikumo.

"I guess, there's nothing else to do here for you as well."

"Ah, Miss Karuma! You don't need to worry about me. I'll be going off now. Ja!" said the girl as she quickly left. Karuma Mei just shrugged it of as both Odoroki and Akaners glanced at each other dumbfounded.

Karuma cleared her throat.

"Since apparently the three of us had our own things to do, I'll take my leave first. See you in court then, Odoroki Housuke. Even if I may not be sitting on the prosecutor chair, do not think we on the prosecution side would be lenient on you. Now go!"

Odoroki jumped as he barely missed the whip hitting his side. He smiled as hw watched the two women leave.

_You can bet on that, Prosecutor Karuma. I won't drop my guard either._

xxx

Prosecutor Karuma Mei looked up towards the signs as she confirmed the location of her next destination. She entered the building as a young man sitting at the information counter greeted her with a smile.

"Hello Miss, can I help you?"

"Of course! I'd like to know if this person ever come to this place for lessons..." she asked the man before taking out a small photo and showed it to him.

The man's eyes lighted up as he stared at her suspiciously.

"What do you want to know? We don't usually divulge our client's information, you know. Some of them would like things like these kept in secret—"

Karuma immediately showed him her prosecutor's batch before glaring at him.

"I am Prosecutor Karuma Mei from the Prosecutor's Office. I'm here on a murder investigation involving this woman. If you have any information regarding this person and refused to let it out, I assure you things will not turn so nicely..." said Karuma sternly as she gripped her whip threateningly at him.

The man backed away.

"O-okay! I'm sorry. Err... yes, she was one of our patrons. She told us she wanted to learn shooting in order to make her acts look more convincing. You know it, didn't you? Miss Shimotsuki is an actress and she was involved in this police movie production? She said the role she got needed her to look and act like a real cop, so ca't make her look like a noob with the guns, eh?"

Karuma snorted to herself. Well, that's one way to cast suspiscions away from her.

"Do you know what type of gun that she used often?" she asked as the young man scratched his head.

"I... I'm not sure about that. You can try asking the gun instructor that trained her every time she came here for practice. It was always the same person."

Karuma frowned.

"Why didn't you know it? Aren't all of the guns used here all the same?" she asked as he shook his head.

"Nope. We had several types here... for different uses. Some of our patrons didn't like to use revolvers and others preferred to use semi-automatics rather than automatic guns. So we had a few of them, depending of what our patrons preferred... or needed. We also have handgun training packages for different types of handgun sizes."

Karuma gritted her teeth. "Why do you have these different trainings? And do you also sell those same types of guns here?"

The young man looked puzzled. "Of course we have different courses!" said the manager who appeared later to the young man's aid. Karuma flashed her badge again as the other man explained. "We at this facility did not just open the training program just for leisure. We also provide gun licenses to those who passed it to allow them being able to acquire and use the guns for their own employment needs. You know, like those security jobs and policework. And we don't just sell the guns blindly here. With the law on it being so strict, it needs more than just getting a licence to buy a gun for personal use. There's too many procedures to be done before anyone could be permitted to own a gun."

She showed the picture to the manager as she asked. "Did this woman bought a gun here?"

The manager immediately shook his head. "No. As far as I remembered, the missy didn't. She only trains here and didn't get a license for it. Why would an actress like her gets a gun anyway?"

Karuma nodded to herself as she noted this. Of course, she could still acquire one in secret...

"Can you show me to this... gun instructor then? The information that he might have might be the very thing I'm looking for—"

BANG! BANG!

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The three of them jumped as their attention turned towards the direction of the sound.

"What's—that?" gasped the young man as Karuma Mei frowned.

The three of them turned around as some people run out of the facility. Karuma immediately caught one before she ran away as she asked her what happened.

"What's wrong?" she asked as the girl frantically chattered her up. Despite the constant flow of words, she managed to pick up 'actress' and 'shooting'. She immediately took out her cell phone and started dialing a number. She turned towards the manager as she barked an order.

"Call the ambulance. From the sound of it, someone have been shot! Get to it!" she exclaimed before running towards the facility. The other man followed her along amidst the bustle of panicked customers.

xxx

The moment she saw a crowd forming at the corner of the field, she knew that was where the shooting happened. After several more ordering and whipping around, she managed to clear some of the crowd.

"Oh god! It's Hasegawa-san!" the young man who followed her earlier exclaimed. The man knelt as he tried to check on the fallen man. Karuma turned to see a first aid box and grabbed another person to get and and helped the young man in securing the victim.

A voice answered her call as she lifted the phone to speak. "This is Prosecutor Karuma Mei. There's a shooting as Bando Shooting Gallery here, I'm requesting for officers to investigate." She hummed a confirmation as she spoke again. "Yes, there's a possibility the suspect went here. A civillian was shot. Yes, inform Prosecutor Garyuu as well. He and Itonokogiri are also on the case."

She ended the call before kneeling beside the victim. "This was—?" she asked the young man as the man nodded.

"Yes, this was the instructor that trained Miss Shimotsuki."

Karuma Mei groaned. It seemed the case this time still went the way that person would have predicted. Thus, she would be expecting _that kind_ of verdict coming as well. A thought came to mind as she finally smiled.

Still, despite the expected outcome... that did not mean that she won't be able to have thing going her way. She would have her victory.


	12. Chasing Time

Is this a coincidence? Just as she took the decision to investigate this place, following the lead they have found; this happened. No, it cannot be. Yet this was a case originally taken by one Naruhodou Ryuichi and most of the time that man tend to be given many cases that sounded ridiculous.

She bit her lips. She should have expected this already, considering the many things she has seen in the past.

"Okay, come on! While we waited for the police and ambulance, we might as well tend to this person—"she said aloud as she order the people around to clear the place.

As she tried to help out by plugging the entry wound with cloth, the victim grabbed her arm as he struggled to speak.

"Suspect... who?" said the man as she shook her head.

"Don't bother yourself about it. Leave this case to us. You just keep being awake until help comes—"

The man shook his head as he lifted his arm to point to another direction.

"Yukino... san!"

Karuma stared at him, amused. She rose as she left the other men tend to the victim before turning around towards the manager and remaining crowd.

"There's a possible murder suspect on the loose. Don't go anywhere until the cops arrive and released you. Don't do anything else that would hinder this case. Do you hear me?" she exclaimed as the manager nodded at her.

Seeing that things were now under control here, Karuma Mei headed towards the direction the victim had indicated the suspect has fled...

xxx

Garyuu kneeled as he picked up a gun from the nearby scene as Detective Itonoko helped him to bag it.

"Prosecutor Garyuu, here's the gun. Is this the gun we're looking for? Must have got careless to leave this behind..."

Garyuu nodded.

"We might as well confirm it ourselves. She probably didn't expect this to happen," he said as Karuma returned to the crime scene.

"She probably saw me coming and panicked," said the female prosecutor before turning to stare at the surroundings. "I called the hospital to check on our new victim. That one would live, the doctors managed to get him patched up in time. That Shimotsuki Yukino might have wanted that guy to keep her secret from us before deciding to shoot him off anyway."

"She went here to silence the guy?" Garyuu asked as she explained.

"The man that was shot earlier was her instructor. It was here that she had learned to use a gun. My guess she either stole the instructor's gun to do the deed and hid it here all this while, or she somehow acquired a gun in secret and hide it here where people would not expect it. After all, this was a shooting alley."

Garyuu whistled out loud. "Impressive. How did you manage to find this place anyway, Miss Karuma?"

Karuma smirked as she took out a business card from her pocket.

"From the evidence... of course. We found a case but not the gun so it should have been hidden elsewhere. Akane went back to the labs to have that case examined for trace." She stared at the evidence bag containing the gun in question. "I did not expect to get this so fast."

Garyuu shrugged. "But now it's almost clear that this case would go to the defense's advantage. You fine with that?"

Karuma shrugged. "These past years... my definition of a perfect win record has change many times. Just because the outcome of this case would almost definitely be set as 'Not Guilty', it does not mean that I _lose_." She took the evidence bag from Garyuu before leaving.

"I'll be taking this to the labs. Continue the search for the runaway suspect, she shouldn't be running that far. We need to put a close to this case by tomorrow."

xxx

Odoroki gave a whistle as he stepped into the office. Nothing was moved since a few days ago when Naruhodou-san had been shot, so the place remained as haphazard as it had been on that fateful night. He sighed at the amount of mess that he saw.

Odoroki looked up towards Naruhodou's office as he saw the remaining bloodstains on the floor. Looks like those officers did not clean this place well enough.

"So this was where..." he mused loudly as he looked around. Now that he actually taken a look at it, the mess outside the room and around here appeared a bit... unnatural. No wonder Mitsurugi-san was quick to assuming that this was not just a normal break-in. But then again, to leave this mess as it was...

An officer passed by the room as Odoroki immediately called him over.

"Urm... officer, is it okay if I cleaned the place up. I was... I mean, I worked here... and err, considering that the investigations here already ended—"

"Ah, sure... I'm just here to guard the place anyway. You can do as you like." said the officer as Odoroki smiled.

"Thanks, officer." he said as he started picking up some of Minuki's magician props from the floor and placed them back to its original place. As he cleaned up, his mind started to replay every facts and evidence as well as the testimonies of people related to the case. Thinking back about his performance in court, somehow he felt grateful to himself knowing that he haven't so far messed up with his defense.

Even if right now his suspected murderer has fled, there should still be a chance for him to get his acquittal. And he would not depend on the prosecution even if in fact they were all in the same side, both wanting to get to the truth. So far he had only won his acquittal through Garyuu's help. Even though, he did gave a lot of effort in his investigation and defense, if not because of Prosecutor Garyuu's help during those few times when he missed something and almost lost the case; none of his clients in the past would have been declared innocent. Not Kitaki Takita-san. Not Maki Tobaayu-san. Not Ese Makoto-san. And especially not Naruhodou-san.

Despite his opponent currently is not Garyuu, he would not let the same thing repeat on him again. He would show them that he is Naruhodou Ryuichi's successor.

Odoroki frowned as he noticed a folder placed neatly on Naruhodou-san's desk. He picked it up before reading the name written on the folder.

"DL-6 Incident... hmm, where had I heard that before—" Odoroki mused loudly before his mind brought back the memories from yesterday.

"Ah!" he gasped before pulling out another folder from his own document bag. Both files were identical! "I am definitely not wrong! This was the same files as the one Mitsurugi-san gave me earlier!" he exclaimed.

He opened the folder to find several documents, mostly summaries of the murder case, victim's data, defendant's data... as well as some other details. But he suddenly got struck at reading the date written on the first set of the files inside.

"2001... that can't be right! At that time, Naruhodou-san... should still be a small kid—"he exclaimed before flicking another files open as he found another case summary. This time, the dates were much more recent.

_Okay... this made more sense. But wait! This would mean Naruhodou-san had been solving a homicide case that went unsolved for fifteen years! And just before its statute of limitations ran out as well!_

A slight feeling of pride went past his mind as he thought of his current mentor. A legendary attorney indeed! But another thought puzzled him as to the connection to the other case that he read earlier.

Only after he saw Prosecutor Mitsurugi's name was he able to connect his thoughts. Odoroki contemplated on reading the files, seeing how this would affect Prosecutor Mitsurugi but finally decided that he would not read further. His main concerns right now should be about getting the acquittal for Miss Itou Kaoru.

Odoroki placed both folders together before tidying the desk a bit before walking towards the book rack where Naruhodou-san kept his old files. Something fell out of the folder as he picked it up. It was a group picture, of Naruhodou-san, Mitsurugi-san as well as their friends. It looked like they were celebrating something... though Mitsurugi-san didn't look comfortable about it. He turned the picture around as he noticed his mentor's handwriting on it. The date of the trial end was written on it as well as a short message.

_'I kept my promise. Yet...'_

Odoroki frowned at the unfinished sentence before noticing another piece of paper on the floor. He picked it up as he slowly unfolded the paper. The paper seemed to have been crumpled sometime ago but for some reason, Naruhodou-san decided to not throw it away. He bit his lips as he read the memo.

_'Mitsurugi Reiji chooses death.'_

Ah.

Suddenly he recalled the incident of that _other day._ When he heard Naruhodou-san mentioned about this. Somehow now, he wondered if one day during the course of his own profession... would he also one day face the same dilemma as the one his predecessor has faced? Wonder how would he handle that if that time ever comes to him?

His phone rang suddenly rang as he answered it. He quickly slipped the old memo and picture back into the folder.

"Hello... Odoroki here—"

**"Odoroki-kun? Are you free? Fancy helping me out at the labs?"**

Odoroki blinked a bit before his confusion cleared as he recognised the voice.

"Akane-san, is there a problem?"

A nervous laugh could be heard from the other side.

**"Ahaha... err, actually I needed some help with processing the evidence, you see—"**

"Eh? Didn't you got back to the precinct to have the gun case checked? What happened?"

Detective Akane sighed.

**"It so happened by the time I came back, the people at this crime lab has gone out for lunch. So, I ended up trying to get the prints from** **the gun case myself. I dusted and everything... but the problem is, all of them were partials. Well, you see... I'm not good at this puzzle thingie—and it's still a long time till the staff were back so—"**

"Alright, alright... I'll be heading there in a sec. I have nothing else to do right now anyway—" said Odoroki as he ended the call and left the office.

Half an hour later, Odoroki entered the police department to the Criminal Affairs Department. It did not take him long to find the plucky detective as he heard his name being called.

"Ah, there you are!"

Odoroki jumped as he turned to find Akane running up to him from the other side of the office.

"Good, you're here. Karuma-san also dropped by earlier. We found the gun... hopefully it was the same gun we're looking for. So, let's analyse these evidence!"

Odoroki blinked. "Eh... the gun? H-how did..."

"I'll tell you on the go. Right now we'll be doing some fingerprints ID on the case and then we'll be looking at the gun. Hopefully by then the rest of the crew would return and we get to the ballistic analysis—" she said again as they entered the labs.

"Hey!" he suddenly exclaimed. "There _are still_ people in this lab! Why did you need me for?" he said as Akane hissed at him.

"Quiet down. Yeah, there are a few of the techies around but they were assigned to other cases. So quit whining and help me. I want to get this evidence processed at once. You shouldn't complain as well since this should help _you as well—"_

"Yeah... I get you." He answered meekly as Akane directed him towards a computer nearby. "So, did they find Miss Shimotsuki yet?"

"Nope," Akane answered simply. Odoroki sighed.

Hopefully Garyuu and Detective Itonoko could get Miss Shimotsuki in time. It would be tricky to clear Miss Itou AND point out the real murderer if the person itself was not around.


	13. Turning Point

Odoroki sighed to himself. Well, as much as he wanted to show Naruhodou-san that he could manage the case without his help; directly or indirectly through Minuki-chan, he could not help but want to seek his approval. After all... it would not hurt to ask for his words of wisdom, cryptic or not.

For this case especially, getting a bit of boost of confidence would have been appreciated.

"Odoroki-san!"

Odoroki turned to see Minuki and Ayame-san walking towards him.

"Finished work already?" the little girl asked as he shrugged.

"I guess so. Not much else that I could gather after all, though I have a feeling that we might be able to uncover the truth finally and win this case tomorrow. I just thought of seeing how Naruhodou-san is doing."

Minuki appeared thoughtful. "Ah well, Papa is awake now... Yahari-san and Mitsurugi-san are still with him. I don't think they would mind having you pop in for a while... though I felt like they would like to be by themselves for now. The three of them were good friends after all... and I think they were having a serious talk right now."

Odoroki blinked. Well, it would be understandable if it was just the two of them... but he had a glimpse of Yahari-san's personality before. Hard to think the two seniors having a serious discussion with that one...

He shrugged. "Well, I'll see if I can just pop in and say hi. I haven't see him at all today and it would be rude if I haven't ask how he was doing after all..."

xxx

Well, cool words and all... but somehow as he approached the room he felt his legs being numb. The atmosphere emanating from the room did feel a bit intense. Perhaps he should have just return home and visit his mentor tomorrow...

"I object."

Odoroki jumped, despite said phrase was not uttered in the usual loud exclamations he used to here in court. It was Naruhodou's voice. Wonder what was it they were discussing about...?

"Why not?" This time it was Mitsurugi. "I understand that place have a kind of sentimental value to you but somehow I can't help feeling that _that_ office kept giving you bad karma."

A laugh. "Hah, this coming from someone who had been adopted into the _Karuma_ family..."

A pause. "Touché. Still you cannot deny it, can you? Ayasato-san lost her life in that office, Mayoi-san kept getting herself caught in murder cases, _you_ getting a lot of ridiculous cases as well as getting into various mishaps _including this time._ Not to mention that _one_ case that changed your life greatly."

_Wow_ , Odoroki thought, he never knew that office had so much history behind it. Tales of Naruhodou-san's turnabout cases had always been the talk of many but seldom was heard about the other side of the famed turnabout defense lawyer. He never thought Naruhodou-san's past to be... so full of mishaps.

Odoroki snapped back to attention as Naruhodou started talking again.

"Indeed those things did happen. But there are still other good memories tied to that place. Like the times I spent there while Chihiro-san was still alive, working on a case with Mayoi-chan, Harumi-chan and meeting everyone—those memories outweigh the sad ones. You can't really blame it all on the office, by far you can only chuck all of this to coincidences. And also, I can't let go of that office. It was something I received from Chihiro-san after all."

Odoroki heard Mitsurugi sighed. "Ah... I guess so. It felt funny now, looking back. It seemed as if all of us had our fates tied with each other, particularly _you_ with the Ayasato clan."

"And _you_ with the Karumas, and the three of us with each other."

"Hah, so should that mean that we can actually put all the blame on Yahari after all?"

"Hold it!"another voice interjected. It was Yahari-san. "Oi, Reiji... Ryuichi, how can you two be so cruel to me?"

Naruhodou laughed. "After all the dreadful ordeals both of us had to face, trying to pull you out from all sorts of situation in court? No, I won't feel bad at blaming everything on you."

"Plus, _you_ were the one that stole my lunch money. If it's not because of you, Naruhodou wouldn't have had to be in that mock court."

"Hahaha, but we ended up being friend since then... eh? Because of this idiot."

Mitsurugi expressed his agreement as Yahari argued. "Enough! You guys really love to tease me about everything, didn't you? But Ryuichi, keeping that office aside... are you really serious about quitting this job? You just got back in it after all..."

Odoroki's heart suddenly gave a lurch. _Naruhodou-san... quitting? B-but... he only just got back his lawyer badge recently—and it's only the first case! He can't really..._

"We'll see. Though I won't take that decision hastily. It's just... it would have been nice if my next few cases would not have to always be about defending the innocents from murder accusations. Some of it was not that bad... but some others—"

"Tended to be a bit _personal_ , wasn't it?"

Odoroki peeked into the room to see his mentor nodding his head. "Perhaps I should start choosing the type of cases I'm accepting again... or take a brief _break_ from cases like I how used to do before. Then maybe I could try see how long this term would last me this time."

"You could always just leave those types of cases to Odoroki-kun. That's what I do these days, leaving most of the usual cases to the youngsters and taking the ones that interests me. After all, aside from my prosecuting duties... I still have my own managerial duties"

Naruhodou laughed again in his usual sly way. "Ah, you're right on that. I have the Simulated Court Committee to manage as you have the Prosecution Office. Still, you didn't need to word it like that. We're aren't that old. Yet anyway. If you want old you might as well turn your attention to the judge... or even Auchi-san." He paused for a while before turning towards the door.

"Anyhow, I think it's high time we end this line of thinking or we'll scare Odoroki-kun even worse."

Mitsurugi turned around as he ushered the younger man in. Odoroki hastily apologised for his intrusion. "I just thought I could say hi to you today. A lot of things happened today, and I haven't got the time to see you earlier..."

Naruhodou smiled. "It's alright. Even if you haven't visited earlier I've heard plenty here about what you've done. Not bad... I should say." He flicked a glance towards Mitsurugi before glancing back towards him. "So, how was it? It's your first time confronting with Mitsurugi in court after all."

Odoroki shrugged.

"Well, I don't know. It was both my first time confronting Karuma-san and Mitsurugi-san. Compared to Garyuu... well, I had to admit it was a different experience. But one thing I realized, I still have a lot to learn about defending my clients in court."

Naruhodou whistled. "So you guys did went easy on him. You should have gone all out on him from the start!"

Odoroki gasped as Mitsurugi laughed. "Ha... is that a way to talk about your supposed successor? That aside, you can't blame either of us for not using our fullest abilities. I have to tell you... it was hard to keep my composure while I'm handling this case."

"Because I got shot? But last time when Karuma was shot you've still able to take over fer duty. And you did well, covering for me that time for Ayame."

"That's different," said Mitsurugi as Odoroki stared at them dumbfounded. He have been hearing a lot of names and incidents mentioned, it was hard to keep track of all of them.

"That time Mei had only been shot on her shoulder. And that other time, despite the horrid accident you only suffered a bad head cold! It was nothing like this!"

Naruhodou grinned before turning to Odoroki. "Okay... point taken. So, tomorrow I'll be expecting more from you, Odoroki-kun."

"Yes sir!" he said before noticing the older man's lingering eyes. "Err... Naruhodou-san?"

"I thought you came here to tell me something?"

"Ah!" Odoroki gasped as Mitsurugi rose.

"I've been here far too long already, I might as well be going," he said before shrugging. "I mustn't let the other have all the fun, doing the things that supposed to be my own work."

Naruhodou waved at him. "See you later then."

Odoroki sat down beside Naruhodou as Yahari excused himself out as well. After seeing them leave, Odoroki started telling Naruhodou everything that he had learnt so far...

xxx

The three of them looked up as Mitsurugi entered the room. Karuma Mei snickered.

"Hah, you took your time long enough."

Mitsurugi shrugged. "Ah, then again all of you has offered your own services in helping me on this case. In these kinds of situtation, I rather not have too many investigators focusing on the same thing. Much better if that amount of help are distributed to cover everything."

Mei laughed. "As if I could just step away after the first day..."

The man shrugged again. "Then again, it's not that I left all of the investigation to you guys. I also did my own share of work. I just returned from the courthouse, just registered another last minute witness for tomorrow."

Akane perked up. "A new witness?" she asked as she noticed the man frowning at the fourth occupant of the room.

"I thought sometime ago I told the detective to convey my thoughts about _you_ coming here to give your assistance?"

The girl shrugged. "Ah... Mitsurugi-san! Why can't I? Anyhow it was me who found the gun-case at that other actress's house. And I haven't even do anything to get in the way."

Mitsurugi sighed. "Well... as long as nothing untoward happens. Any news from Itonokogiri?"

Mikumo shrugged. "Noko-chan called earlier. They already found the actress. Lucky!"

Akane chomped on another handful of karintou as she interrupted them. "Mitsurugi-san! What do you mean we have another witness?"

He shrugged again. "We had a new one because it just... happens. Originally I haven't intended to get him in as a witness but he insisted. So, I did all that paperwork to get him in."

Karuma Mei frowned. " _Him?_ Don't tell me... it's—"

"Naruhodou Ryuichi. Yes, he's our new witness."

Mei flinched. "Naruhodou? W-why... is he going against his own client? Is he mad?"

Mitsurugi shook his head. "Not exactly. He just thought it would be boring if he helped Odoroki-kun win this case any other way. If he wanted that, he would have just taken over the whole case from the kid already." Akane exchanged glances with the Mei and Mikumo as he explained further. "Considering now that the case is coming to a close in favour of the defense, we might as well end it on our terms. We shouldn't just let Odoroki-kun win his acquittal without any fight."

A smile started to sneak into Mei's features as she smirked. "So must I assume... this was Naruhodou's idea of testing his successor? The trial has become a game for him now?"

"Well, his condition has become better these few days... and since Naruhodou was the former attorney handling the case, he thought it was better if he appeared as a prosecution witness rather from the defense. At least it will not appear as if it was a desperate move by the defense to turn this case around."

Mei nodded her head. "Ah, I see your point. Honestly, I can't believe how things had changed around this case alone."

"Hah. Makes you think it could have been easier if I'd just turn in my badge and become a defense attorney instead."

Mei clicked her tongue as she waved her finger at him. "Why don't you? It would have been interesting to fight you again in the courthouse and settle our differences."

Mitsurugi cocked his head at her. "You're the second person to ask me that. We'll talk about that later. Anyhow..." he turned towards Mikumo, "Mikumo-kun, since you're already here... we might as well use everything we can get. I want you to recreate first the original crime scene of Miss Satsuki's murder and later—"

Mitsurugi searched his coat pocket before taking out a small badge-like device, about the size of his palm. He gave it to Mikumo as Akane gave a cry.

"Ah! That was mine! I got that one specially-made, complete with a mini camera inside it—Mitsurugi-san! Where did you get that?"

He smiled at her. "I found it on the floor, near the place where I found Naruhodou. It's a bit damaged, but we could still recover the data. Since we cannot use it as evidence anyway, might as well use it to recreate the scene and allow us a chance to evaluate the situation."

"What would be the prosecution's stand on tomorrow's session?" Mei asked as Mitsurugi answered.

"We'll approach the case with an assumption that the defendant Itou Kaoru and Shimotsuki Yukino are in fact accomplices in the murder of Miss Satsuki Yumiko."

Mikumo nodded her affirmattive as she pulled out her little device an inputted the data received. "All right! Here we go... Nusumi-chan, show us your stuff!" she exclaimed as she pointed the device upwards...


	14. Final Confrontation

October 26, 9.45 AM, Defendant Lobby No. 2

Odoroki glanced around to see if there were any familiar face that he could detect from the crowd. He sighed. Minuki and Ayame-san had gone out earlier, they told him it was because they wanted to keep Naruhodou-san company. He shook his head. Guess he got too used to having Minuki by his side. Well, he can't always depend on her to remind him about things.

He thought of the day during his first case. He had been so nervous that time. The jitters somehow returned as he fidgeted with himself. Suddenly Naruhodou's reminder from last night rang in his ears. He sighed. As he had given his words, he would tone down his vocal practice. So at least his voice wasn't as coarse as usually. Even then he was still so nervous...

"Odoroki-kun!"

He gave a cry as someone jumped on him from behind. He gasped as he noticed that it was Minuki.

"Missed me already?"

Odoroki blinked.

"Minuki-chan? I thought you and Ayame-san would be at the clinic-"

Minuki just waved the concerns away. "Well, there's that... and this is different. As Odoroki-kun's assistant, I can't be missing from your side."

Odoroki scratched his head as Minuki diverted his questions. He shook the thoughts away as the bailiff started calling for them before he and Minuki entered the courtroom.

October 26, 10.00 AM, District Court

The judge slammed his gavel as usual as everyone in the court started to settle down.

"Today is the final day for the trial of Miss Itou Kaoru."

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor." said Mitsurugi as usual while Odoroki replied the same.

The judge nodded.

"Prosecutor Mitsurugi, you may start with your opening sentence now...", said the elderly judge as the man bowed.

"Thank you, Your Honor. The prosecution's only concern for this case, is to have the truth revealed. An unforgivable deed have been done during the span of this case. We, prosecutors and defense attorneys have only one mission to uphold in this courtroom. And that is to uphold the law and the truth!"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "Prior to the sitting of the case, a defense attorney have been shot. Fortunately, unlike the incident fifteen years ago where the late Prosecutor Ichijou had died; Defense Attorney Naruhodou had survived. The prosecution would like to state our stance today, that we will not take kindly to anyone who tried to sway the law system by harming the officers of the law. As such, we will not rest until a judgement is determined!"

The judge nodded. "Yes, I agree. You may continue."

Mitsurugi cleared his throat. Odoroki shrugged as he turned towards Minuki.

"Mitsurugi-san's speech was a bit long today..." he said as Minuki waved him off.

"Well, what happened to Papa was unforgivable after all. Papa was only doing his job!" she said heatedly as Odoroki sighed.

"Yesterday, for some unknown reason the witness... Miss Shimotsuki Yukino has fled. The prosecution decided that this issue needs to be investigated as it may have a connection to the case. Thus I would like to call again the witness to explain herself."

The judge nodded again as he turned towards Mitsurugi. "So the witness have been found?"

Mitsurugi nodded. "Yes. Prosecutor Garyuu and Detective Itonokogiri have led the team to search for the witness and have finally relocated her. She have been in police custody since in order to ensure her attendance today."

"Very well," the judge said. "Bailiff, bring in the witness!"

Odoroki cast a long look at the bailiff as they went out to escort the witness in...

xxx

Shimotsuki Yukino stood on the stands looking totally irritated as Mitsurugi called her to attention.

"We meet again, Miss Shimotsuki. Before we begin, may I ask... what was the reason for you to disappear from this court yesterday?"

The actress glared at him, as Mitsurugi remained unaffected.

"I'm not running away! I'm just... scared. Startled! That earthquake yesterday was really something. So it's just that... nothing else."

Mitsurugi shrugged. "So I may assume that it was not because of any other reasons?"

The actress laughed at him, though Odoroki managed to detect a wave of nervousness coming from her. He frowned as he concentrated harder towards Miss Shimotsuki.

"Haha! What are you implying? There's nothing of the sort. I only thought that my deed here has already done with."

He nodded again. "—very well. Your Honor, before the witness gave her testimony again... the prosecution would like to change our approach to the case."

The judge blinked. "Eh? What was the meaning of this, Mitsurugi-kun?"

Mitsurugi took out a set of documents and presented it to the court. "The prosecution would like to change our accusation against the defendant. The prosecution believes that she have not worked alone and that she has an accomplice. The witness here is the accomplice!"

The court suddenly went into an uproar as Mitsurugi explained. "Yesterday an incident occurred at T10 Shooting Alley located in the western area. An instructor of the centre have been hospitalized, and apparently knew the witness. Thus, we assume that this incident have a connection with the witness's disappearance yesterday."

"WHAT?" Shimotsuki exclaimed as the judge scolded her.

"You may defend yourself after this. Witness, you may begin your testimony." said the judge again as he slammed his gavel down.

_This is it, the final lap!_ , Odoroki told himself as he tensed for the incoming confrontation. He was not sure why Mitsurugi-san changed his stance but he would use this to his advantage. He would still clear Miss Itou from this accusation!

xxx

Shimotsuki gave all of them the look of annoyance.

"This trial is a sham! I am not the one who killed Miss Satsuki nor am I an accomplice to this charade! I left the court yesterday after the quake because it startled me. Yes, I heard about the incident with the instructor but I have nothing to do with it. I don't see why am I being accused as an accomplice just because of that!"

"Your cross-examinations, Odoroki-kun." said the judge again as Odoroki nodded.

Odoroki cleared his throat as he took a long breather.

"Miss Shimotsuki... forgive me if I sounded forward, but why do you went to the shooting alley where the incident occurred?"

Shimotsuki started playing with her hair before shrugging. "It's for the movie I am involved with. I needed to learn my part for the role I received. That was the only reason I'm learning to use a gun. I have no other reasons aside from that."

"Was this important, Odoroki-kun?" asked the judge as he nodded. The judge turned his attention back to Miss Shimotsuki. "Very well. Witness, please add that to your testimony."

"Good... you have her there," said Minuki softly as Odoroki nodded.

Shimotsuki sighed. "Okay. I had taken a lesson on gun usage at that centre for the movie I'm in. That was it, I have no other reasons to learn how to shoot a gun."

Odoroki smiled as he straightened up.

"OBJECTION!" Odoroki exclaimed as everyone's attention turned towards him. Odoroki grinned sheepishly as he shrugged. Well, that didn't sound so bad... perhaps Naruhodou-san was right about him toning down his 'Shouting Voice'.

Odoroki took out an evidence bag containing a small box inside. "Are you sure about that, Shimotsuki-san?" he asked as he presented the evidence. "This was found in the witness's house. It's a gun-case. If the witness was telling the truth, why was _this_ being found at her house?"

Shimotsuki's eyes flared. "How dare you—How can you just enter my own house without permission and take things out of it by yourself? It's a violation of-"

"HOLD IT!" Shimotsuki turned towards Mitsurugi as he clicked his tongue at her.

"Tch! Miss Shimotsuki, you should not fault the defense for their actions. Because of the incident yesterday, the police did not need a warrant to search your house as well. If the defense manage to find something during that time, it was not against the law."

"Arghhhh!" the actress cried out before regaining her composure. "Ah well... it's just a case. That's no proof to what you're accusing me of-"

"OBJECTION!"

Everyone turned towards Odoroki again as he shook his head. "Not so fast, Shimotsuki-san! Here's another proof!" He took out another evidence bag, this time being a small handgun.

"This gun have been found near the place where the instructor was shot. Ballistic marks confirmed that it was the same gun that was used on the man, as well as the one that hit Naruhodou-san and the victim! Also, the fingerprint that was lifted from the gun belonged to the witness! Now, Shimotsuki-san! How that explains your earlier statements?"

Miss Shimotsuki flinched as she started to lose her fortitude. The judge shook his head in astonishment before slamming his gavel again. Minuki turned towards Odoroki as she smiled encouragingly.

"The court accepts these two evidence into the record!"

Mitsurugi smirked. "There you have it. There is enough evidence to indicate the existence of an accomplice. Still, this does not change the accusation against the defendant-"

"HOLD IT!" The actress suddenly cried out in panic. "That's not true... I'm not the murderer, this was all a misunderstanding. This is not-"

"I would like to object as well!" exclaimed Odoroki. "I believed my client had been set up to make it seem that she was the murderer! I believe the truth lies in Shimotsuki-san's testimony!"

"What lies! I am not the murderer! Itou Kaoru is!"

Odoroki grinned. "Don't be too sure of yourself. Shimotsuki-san... are you nervous?"

The actress laughed at him. "No, what makes you think so?"

Odoroki clicked his tongue at her. "Ha... don't think I did not noticed it. You have been fiddling with your right earring when you testified about the gun instructor. I noticed some other of your nervous ticks as you continued your testimony over your own accusation. That alone was enough to cast my doubts about you!"

The actress snapped as her expression started to change.

"You ingrate! Just because you could stare at me with your big eyes, doesn't mean that you are right! I-"

Mitsurugi interrupted them as he waved a finger.

"Not so fast," he said before turning towards the judge. "Before we continue with this line of thoughts, I have another witness to call out. This witness should be able to clear our doubts about the real perpetrators in this case."

Odoroki blinked. "N-new witness?" he gasped as Minuki reminded him.

"Don't fall out yet! We still have a lot to go," she said as she braced herself towards Mitsurugi. Odoroki stared at her in confusion as the judge finally spoke.

"Very well. Miss Shimotsuki is now dismissed. Mitsurugi-kun, you may call on your next witness."

xxx

Odoroki jumped as he saw Miss Ayame entered the courtroom alongside the witness. The judge appeared surprised as well as the _witness_ took the stands. Mitsurugi snickered to himself as the witness rose from the wheelchair and stood on the witness stand.

"Witness? Please state your name and profession." he asked with a hint of amusement.

The man returned the amused look towards the prosecution as he introduced himself.

"Me? Well, my name's Naruhodou Ryuichi... and my current job? Defense attorney, or should I say... the former attorney in charge of this case."

The judge blinked.

"Naruhodou-kun! What a surprise... are you sure you'd be fine over there?" the judge asked as Naruhodou shrugged.

"I'll be fine. As long as I exert too much of my own strength, I'll be able to continue presenting my testimony."

"B-but... this.. doesn't this look like you're going against your own client, Naruhodou-kun?" the judge asked again as Odoroki nodded as well. He turned towards Minuki to ask if she knew about this, but Minuki did not seemed disturbed over this turn of events.

Naruhodou sighed. "I am not. The prosecution requested me to testify over the incident that happened to me before this trial. Whether or not this would affect my client's situation... well, I do hope it would turn out for the best."

The judge nodded. "Very well. Mitsurugi-kun, you may continue."

Mitsurugi smiled at he turned towards his friend.

"So, Naruhodou-kun... could you tell us what happened the night when you were shot?"

Naruhodou cocked his head at him. "Sure. I barely remembered it but if it would help the case, I'll testify."

Odoroki swallowed slowly as he prepared himself for Naruhodou-san's testimony. There must be a reason why Mitsurugi-san asked him to testify, so he should not waste this chance to clear his client and direct the verdict towards the real criminal!"

"The night before the trial, I was at my office to check on the old files. It's been a long time since I've been defending people in this court of law, so I thought I might as well reread all my past cases to refresh my memories. I was at the office around an hour after nine. Just as I was about to leave for home, someone entered the office. Without warning, I was shot. Just before I passed out, I called Mitsurugi-kun on my phone."

Mitsurugi nodded. "Thank goodness for that decision. If help had not arrived in time, you'd probably be dead by now."

Naruhodou stared at the ceiling sideways before whistling to himself. "Hmm... yeah, that was smart of me. Else you'd be losing one good friend, huh?"

The judge nodded as well. "And we'd be losing a good lawyer as well. Odoroki-kun, you may cross-examine the witness now."

"Yes, Your Honor," Odoroki replied before turning his attention to his mentor. His statement was slightly different than the one he heard before. Was it deliberate... or was there something else lying behind it?"

"Naruhodou-san... why did you called for Mitsurugi-san that time?"

Naruhodou gave him a look of surprise. "Why... Odoroki-kun! To ask for help of course! I knew Mitsurugi was around and I know he could come to my aid as fast as he could." He turned to Mitsurugi as he grinned. "It worked last time... hadn't it? I was a bit surprised myself when I woke up to find you out of breath, sitting on my bedside after I was hospitalized."

Mitsurugi slapped a hand over his face. "That was because Yahari had been saying that your life was in danger and you are dying. I still couldn't believe that you dared crossing a burning bridge without thinking about your safety."

Naruhodou continued grinning before turning his attention towards Odoroki. Odoroki took out a slip of paper containing a short transcript.

"But Naruhodou-san, it says here during your call to Mitsurugi-san that you have been asking him to help the defendant-"

Naruhodou shrugged. "Oh... that? Well... I'm not sure what I'm thinking then, I might have said that just to get Mitsurugi to come over. If I told him, 'Hey, Mitsurugi. I got myself shot, help me!' he might think I was just making a prank call."

Mitsurugi shook his head again. "Seriously, Naruhodou... that's not funny. How many times have I told you, your jokes are very lame!"

Naruhodou shrugged as he smiled apologetically at the judge. Minuki giggled before turning towards Odoroki. "Yeah... Papa loves to make Mitsurugi-san run around for him. He said he wouldn't have come willingly if Papa didn't push him hard enough!"

Naruhodou chuckled as he winked at his adoptive daughter.

Odoroki sighed. So, that means Naruhodou-san would not testify readily to his own advantage. Meaning if he wanted this acquittal, he needed to do it by himself!

"Naruhodou-san, who was it that came to the office that time?"

The man smiled. "It's the witness, Miss Shimotsuki Yukino."

"Why did the witness came to see you? Did you have an appointment with her?"

Naruhodou chuckled. "No, I don't. I actually did not expect to see her that night. She had a request, she wanted me to drop the case I'm handling and let another lawyer take over Itou-san's defense."

Odoroki frowned. "And you have no idea the reason of that being?"

Naruhodou shrugged. "Well, many things crossed my mind at that time. Perhaps Miss Shimotsuki thinks that I'm not a suitable person to defend Miss Itou and wanted a better lawyer to take over. Or perhaps she did not want me to defend her for any other reasons I cannot imagine. About that, I have no idea. Before I could insist on asking the reasoning for that request, I was shot."

Mitsurugi nodded. "Perhaps Miss Shimotsuki was adamant in not wanting you to uncover the truth, that's why she shot you when you refused to drop the case. So Your Honor, from this alone you could see-"

"HOLD IT!"

All attention turned towards Odoroki as he spoke. "Wait a second. Before Naruhodou-san step down, there was something I'd like to ask."

Naruhodou blinked at him in surprise. "Oh? Is there anything else you want to know, Odoroki-kun?"

Odoroki tapped his finger on his chin. Minuki turned to look at him. "I cannot help noticing this... Naruhodou-san. But just now, when you said you have no idea about the previous witness's intention; you've been fiddling with something in you jacket pocket. I can't imagine you being nervous about something, so what was it you're not telling?"

Odoroki noticed again the look of surprise on his mentor's face as he caught a glimpse of the thing that was in the pocket. He saw a flash of something neon-green. Was that the magatama? Is there something else that Naruhodou saw that night?

Naruhodou chuckled to himself. "Ha! I should know that I could not hide anything from you. Well, there was something. But it was just a feeling... and I'm not sure if I should have mentioned it at all."

"What was that... _feeling?_ " Odoroki pressed on.

"Well, a few moments before I was shot... I had a feeling that Miss Shimotsuki have something that she wanted to hide. I do not know what was it... because I haven't the chance to ask." Naruhodou gave Mitsurugi a helpless shrug. "You know, several years ago... I received a _gift_ from the Kurain village. Since then I've been able to see things, I could sense if people have been hiding a secret from me. It's how I have been able to progress in all of the investigations for my past cases after all."

Odoroki noticed Mitsurugi nodding to it as he wondered what it meant. So Mitsurugi-san knew about the magatama's powers? So what does this knowledge could do in his aid?

"So... this _feelings_ , do you know what was the meaning of that?"

Naruhodou shook his head. "I'm sorry, Odoroki-kun. Like I said, I have no idea. I would like to believe in Miss Itou's innocence but Mitsurugi's suggestion does have it's own possibilities as well. I'm sorry to say this... but that's all I could give."

"It's all right, Naruhodou-san. I think I could handle it from here."

Naruhodou nodded as Ayame helped him walk down from the witness stand. It seemed they've managed to keep the cross-examination quick enough before Naruhodou-san's strength failed him. Odoroki heaved a sigh of relief. Perhaps using this last clue he could somehow turn this case around. Just like his mentor, Naruhodou-san... as well as his predecessor, Ayasato Chihiro-san.

"Your Honor," Odoroki started to say. "The defense would like to amend our stand. I still claim that my client is innocent but the defense would like to accuse Miss Shimotsuki-san as the real murderer!"

The judge nodded. "I see, I can understand why you think that way. Well, Mitsurugi-kun. You may call again Miss Shimotsuki to the stands. The court will take a brief recess to prepare for the next session."

Odoroki walked out to the lobby as he looked back towards the courtroom. _This is it_ , Odoroki thought to himself. _The final fight._ If he would want to clear Miss Itou's accusations and get her out as a free person, he needed to give his all into proving that Miss Shimotsuki was indeed the killer.

He could do this. He have been able to clear his cases so far and proven his clients' innocence, he should be able to do the same this time.

Definitely!


	15. Conclusion

October 26, 11.45 AM, District Courtroom

"The court will now reconvene..."

The courtroom went quiet again. The judge turned his attention towards the witness. He frowned.

"So witness, do you understand the situation you're facing now?

The actress started glaring daggers at everyone. "I understand! So pointy hair there thinks I'm the murderer now? Hah! The things Itou do to get favours! The things she could make people do for her!"

Mitsurugi tapped his table impatiently. "Just give your testimony, witness."

" _Yeah... and don't poke at the hair!_ " hissed Odoroki under his breath as Minuki giggled at him.

Shimotsuki stared back at them. "Very well."

xxx

"I thought I have explained enough. Yesterday when I left, I thought there was no more need for me to be around. About my instructor, it was unfortunate... but I haven't been around that place yesterday! I don't know why the gun that shot the man ended up being the same that shot Miss Satsuki. As to the lawyer, I have no idea about it. It was night after all, he might have been mistaken me for somebody else. I can't believe you guys wanted to pin me as an accomplice to this murder, or even worse... the real murderer! There was no reason I would want to kill Satsuki, I have no motive to do that!"

The judge nodded as he motioned to Odoroki to start his cross-examination.

Odoroki shrugged. "Obviously I'm accusing you as the murderer, the way the case is going can't be doing any good to my client. That aside, considering she have been in detention all this time she can't be—"

"Objection." Odoroki blinked as he turned towards Mitsurugi. That was... quite an unenthusiastic exclamation.

"Of course. But this still did not prove the witness was not an accomplice. She might have acted in her place in order to " said Mitsurugi as Odoroki objected again.

"It still did not make any sense! By all means, Naruhodou-san was on my client's defense! There's no reason to—"

Mitsurugi clicked his tongue at him. "Now, now... Odoroki-kun. Your cross-examination."

Odoroki-kun sighed as Minuki gave him a look. He sighed. _Ah well, Mitsurugi-san was still doing his job as a prosecutor. He can't be openly helping me out to win this case after all. After all... he's not like Prosecutor Garyuu, right?_

He turned towards Shimotsuki.

"That's quite cold of you, Shimotsuki-san. That instructor who was shot, isn't he an acquaintance?"

Shimotsuki shrugged. "I'm not that close to that man. He just helped me out for a brief time after all."

"Did the instructor, Hasegawa-san trained Miss Itou as well?"

"Hah! As if she needed it..."

"I take it they never met then? So Shimotsuki-san, may I ask how the man have any relation to Miss Itou in regard to this case?

"HOLD IT! I would like to ask the defense the relevance of this line of questioning."

"It was related!" Odoroki spoke before the judge could ask him as he took out another evidence to show everyone.

"This was the gun that was used in all three of the shooting. The licence number of this gun lead us back to the victim, Hasegawa! So if Miss Itou had no relation to that man, how did his gun end up killing Miss Satsuki?"

"Oh my!" The judge exclaimed before everyone went quite for a moment. Odoroki looked around puzzled as Mitsurugi chuckled.

"That's it? Revealing only that is not enough to prove anything. In fact, the defense just proven that the possibility of an accomplice exists! So Shimotsuki-san. As I said earlier it's better if you just—"

"OBJECTION! That was unthinkable! If that was true, why the need to eliminate the man—"

"OBJECTION!" Mitsurugi chuckled. "We're not here to question the motive of the murderer! We can already explain the possible connection—"

"Thus I am **refuting** that claim! My client is innocent and I can prove it! That witness over there was not an accomplice but the true murderer!"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "Such bravado... did you _inherit_ that as well from my _dear friend_ , Naruhodou? What prove did you have to justify your claim?"

Odoroki shook his head. "This is no bravado. As to my proof... I guess this slipped from your memory, did it?"

Odoroki sensed nothing from the other man as he wondered about him. Could Mitsurugi really have overlooked that _one_ piece of evidence? It can't be a coincidence that on the evening he have helped Detective Houdzuki in processing the gun the other day, _another piece of evidence_ just happened to appear before him! It seemed that Mitsurugi-san have ordered for a complete blood analysis on the blood trace left on the knife that was found at the scene. The analysis turned up a bit late but somehow Mitsurugi have not retrieved that evidence. Even Houdzuki-san did not stop him to take that for his own use.

Odoroki took out the report. "I have here the summary of the complete blood analysis on the knife found at the crime scene, ordered by the prosecution itself! It appears that aside from the blood belonging to the victim, there was another trace from an unknown source!"

Mitsurugi shrugged again. " Oh, that. I guess I did forget about it. But it has no relation to this ca—"

"HOLD IT!" Odoroki shook a finger at him, "On the contrary, this evidence was very important! In fact, it could easily shed light to the mystery of Miss Satsuki's murderer. As I learned later... there was another DNA trace found in the blood that did not belong to the victim. As you can see, my client has no injury—"

"That was no indicative—"

"—which leads to my other assumption, I decided to test if that other DNA trace would match up with any other of the people related to this case. And we did found a match! It was Miss Shimo—"

"THAT'S BULLSHIT, I HAVE NO—"

Odoroki raised his voice even louder to counter Shimotsuki's outburst as he continued, "The witness had spotted a fresh injury on one of her arm, so it was not really surprising. As for the motive, surprisingly this very evidence itself provided the answer! It was accidental, really... because the sample was initially tested with my client's blood sample to see if they matched but that brought us to a startling discovery! While her DNA did not match with the other DNA profile, Miss Itou's DNA profile contained several similar point with the _victim's_ DNA profile!"

Odoroki grinned. "Certainly, you've heard of several kinds DNA tests to check if anyone is related to another person, regardless if they were related as siblings or as a parent and child. Well, the earlier findings prompted me to go further and I came to this conclusion! There was a high possibility that Miss Itou was Miss Satsuki's _daughter!_ "

"Hah! Even if that was true... that doesn't mean that she cannot kill her!" countered Shimotsuki again before Mitsurugi could comment on it.

"Haa... but doesn't that provide a motive for _you_ instead, Miss Shimotsuki?"

"What do you mean?"

Odoroki tapped the paper he was holding. "I've asked some of the people at the studio, they've been telling me about your rivalry with my client. Seems despite Miss Itou was still a rookie, she's been getting a lot of offers for television and movie roles. Miss Satsuki in particular, was very generous in opening up many opportunities for my client. Many would have thought the real star the production was promoting was Itou-san rather than you, the supposed famous actress! And I have this to add to my claim!"

The judge blinked. "What is that, Odoroki-kun?" he asked as Odoroki took out something with Minuki's help.

"Your Honor might still remember this piece of evidence," he said as he took out a very familiar button. "Naruhodou-san has always worn this. It was a secret spy camera he had been using in the past to help him gather his evidence to clear his name in the past. It was lucky that he did not turn this off the night he had been attacked."

The judge blinked again. "Wah... does that mean... the real murderer—"

Odoroki nodded as he walked out of his bench, just as a bailiff entered with a TV set and video player. Odoroki shoved a small disk out.

"This video have been extracted from the camera. I think this would help explain everything..." he said again as he inserted the disk into the player.

xxx

Odoroki turned towards Minuki as she have been gripping his arm tightly. The court has been silent as the video just played the scene where Naruhodou have been shot. He could see the horror in her eyes as she could hear Naruhodou's rasping breath in the video. The video have been out of focus after his fall, but the audio still came out clear.

" **It's the end game, huh?"** Shimotsuki's voice rang clear. **"You really should have listened to me. Then you wouldn't have to die like Satsuki. That woman really can be so stubborn, I wouldn't let her ruin** _ **my**_ **career and then lift that brat to replace me. No sirrie..."**

Odoroki hastily asked for the video to be stopped as Minuki flinched after she heard the sound of Naruhodou being kicked. No one spoke after that.

"Take... that! I guess the video had already provided the answers we're looking for. I think the prosecution has no objections to this?"

Mitsurugi shook his head. "None at all. This evidence was quite unorthodox, but by no means it was unacceptable. The court now did not need decisive evidence all the time in order to achieve the verdict. This is enough to give our dear jurors something to think about."

"Urgh...!" Everyone's attentions turned towards Shimotsuki as she started to shake. Without warning, she started to scream as the actress finally broke down and confessed to everything...

xxx

"Mitsurugi-kun, what happened to the witness now?"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "She has started calming down and has been arrested already, sir."

The judge nodded as he slammed on his gavel again before calling the defendant to the stands. Miss Itou Kaoru walked up to the stands calmly as the judge addressed her.

He cleared his throat slowly.

"I've just received the votes from the jurors and I must say, they have all arrived on the same decision. Are you prepared, Miss Itou Kaoru?" said the judge as the girl nodded her head fervently. The judge acknowledged everyone as he slammed his gavel again.

"Well, this trial has reached its final conclusion. Miss Itou Kaoru, regarding the charge of the murder of Miss Satsuki Yumiko... this court hereby finds you, NOT GUILTY! The court is now postponed..."

xxx

Odoroki looked around as he frowned.

"Where's Naruhodou-san now? I thought he was sitting nearby earlier with Ayame-san."

Minuki shrugged. "Well, Papa might have gone elsewhere to get some air... why don't we wait for them?"

Odoroki sighed. "We might as well..."

October 26, 1.10 PM, Records Room

Mitsurugi walked out of the room before stopping to see Naruhodou waiting for him. He sighed.

"I thought I would find you here, " said Naruhodou as Ayame bowed in greeting. Mitsurugi cocked his head to the side.

"Well... there's still a bit more of paperwork to be done before we could close this case. That boy was something, that Odoroki kid."

Naruhodou grinned. "Well... I guess I'm still full of luck. To be able to find that kid, I somehow manage to find a sort of successor for myself."

Mitsurugi snorted. "Hah! Then again, you did have a knack in getting the right people to help you." He sighed. "So, does this changed your mind a bit?"

Naruhodou shrugged. "Perhaps, but I guess for now... I'd like to stay away from taking murder cases in succession one after another if I could help it. It's bad for health."

Mitsurugi nodded. "You should have thought about this from early on, you know? Then you might have got more work to sustain yourself and that old office of yours. Murder cases and you are most often not a good thing, especially with the kind of cases _you_ tend to get. But I could also say the same with cases that intertwined with another..." He sighed. "So finally, I get to pay you back properly."

Naruhodou and Ayame blinked at him in surprise. "Pay me back? What did you mean?"

Mitsurugi smiled weakly. "Well... you did help me a lot in the past. On clearing me from the murder charges, on DL-6 case, SL-9 and the problem that arose two years after that. It's a bit late to say this after so long... but I'm glad to return the favour."

Naruhodou stared at him in amusement. "Are we keeping tabs now? But you forgot about what you did when we're still kids, those few cases that you _did_ helped me during the trials, that time Mayoi-chan was kidnapped, that other case in Hazakura... you really don't have to feel you still need to return any favours to me."

Mitsurugi shook his head. "Sure, I did all that. But I haven't been able to help you during _that_ incident. That one about the Arumajiki Troupe. I felt bad not being able to help. It had always been _you_ who reached your hand out to me; not the other way around. So at the time when the worse thing have happened to you, I couldn't even..."

Ayame looked down to check on Naruhodou as the man lowered his gaze. "Well, _that one_ was different. And it was not the kind of case that could have been solved easily. Despite that, I still have you guys supporting me... as well as Minuki-chan at my side. And it was not something I'd like other people to involve themselves with. I can't just drag everyone into my problem."

"This coming from the man who would not stop at nothing to save the people he cared about, when _they_ were in the kind of trouble as bad as yours? You're one to talk."

Naruhodou smiled weakly. "Well, you _did_ manage to help me out in the end... didn't you? If I didn't have you, Mei-san, Hoshikage-san, those few other people you've gathered... backing me up on my idea of reforming the judicial system, I wouldn't have been here at all."

"I still regretted not doing more." Naruhodou looked up as Mitsurugi sighed. "It was unfortunate that it took seven years for your name to be cleared."

Naruhodou sighed. He felt Ayame's grip on his shoulder tightened as he patted her hand softly. "It can't be helped. Things just happened—I mean, it was not that easy to find all of that evidence to implicate that man after all."

"I'm actually very glad that you did decide to take up law again. I agree there's still some good lawyers around to fill the hole you left after that disbarment—aside from _that person_ , of course—but it didn't feel the same without you. I guess I'm so used to seeing you in court, not having you around during those seven years..."

Naruhodou shrugged. "Well, all that has passed now. No use continuing to talk about it."

"But that doesn't mean one could just forget about it. It's not the same... not being able to partner with you again in court. I wouldn't have minded it if the people I prosecuted were indeed guilty of their crimes but if they were innocent, I'd feel uncomfortable if they ended up being falsely charged because I did my job too well. I don't think there were that many lawyers who could stand up against me as well as you."

Naruhodou grinned. "So you're saying, you missed me?"

"Haha," Mitsurugi laughed before looking away. He was quiet for a moment as if deep in thought. "You know, there was a time... several years ago, when I could have just grab the chance to step down as a prosecutor and start at the beginning again as a _defense lawyer_. There was still my father's old law office that his assistant, Shigaraki took over after his death. But I chose to remain who I am, a prosecutor."

Naruhodou gave him a look of interest. "Why so?"

Mitsurugi shrugged again. "Well, even if I did not continue my father's line of work... I'm still continuing his legacy. Just not in the same path as he used to be. Also, during that time when several interconnecting cases I was involved in dragged me into facing that very case that lead to my father's demise; I ended up rethinking about many things."

Naruhodou looked up. "About Karuma-san? That man _was_ the reason you became a prosecutor after all, and it was because of the case he and your father handled that started the chains of events after that. What _did_ happen that time? So many things happened in those few months, I guess it slipped my mind to ask you about it."

Mitsurugi shrugged. "I'll tell you about it some other day, a lot of things cropped up that time... it was as confusing as the things that happened to you." He sighed, "Let's just say back then, I found out many things I've never known before. It's strange to learn about the other side of the truth you never thought of finding out. That aside, I always thought I could just leave all that defending things to you... and Shigaraki-san. And then, you just had to get careless and get yourself disbarred."

"So that was the real reason you've been giving your all the help me out? Not because you feel lonely without me in court?"

Mitsurugi shrugged. "That was one of the reason!" he replied hotly, ignoring the other question. "Another reason was related to that Prosecutor Purge programme as well as many other things. Even then, it was already apparent that a change in the system was desperately needed. Not just for the innocent people wrongly accused, but for the sake of the lawyers and prosecutors as well,"

Naruhodou chuckled. "So, I was your convenient catalyst, huh?" he said before mulling about the things Mitsurugi has said. But then, he shook his head before changing the topic. Perhaps those things are better left discussed another day. "Today, you don't seem to be fighting too hard against Odoroki-kun, despite what you've told the boy before."

Mitsurugi chuckled. "Who says? If I seemed to be lacking steam it's because I spent too much of it last night, debating the case with Mei. That aside, even if I haven't done a lot; Odoroki-kun did try his best to clear Itou-san's accusation. That _was_ your intention, wasn't it? So everything works out!"

Naruhodou grinned. "Oh really?"

Mitsurugi glanced sideways at him. "Anyway, if you want an even better fight, get well soon and take on another case against me. It's no fun having to contend with your successor when I could oppose you instead. Garyuu-kun can take that Odoroki any day." He turned around as he started walking towards the main hallway. Ayame started to push Naruhodou's wheelchair to follow.

Naruhodou laughed. "You're being quiet honest today, Mitsurugi. I'm grateful that you cared so much about me..." He grinned as he detected a faint blush on his friend's cheeks.

"Naruhodou... don't think I cannot sock you just because you're still injured."

"What? Would you cry on me if I pressed you too hard?"

"Who would've cried just because of that at this age!"

Naruhodou continued laughing as the three of them left the hallway.

xxx

"Naruhodou-san! There you are!"

Odoroki and Minuki hurried towards the trio as they caught sight of them. Mitsurugi chuckled to himself. To think of those two were as good as being Naruhodou's own children. Kids do tend to like to flock around this friend of his.

"Oi! What're you smirking at?" Mitsurugi flinched as Naruhodou kicked his leg.

"Watch what you're doing! If I want it, I could just roll you down the stairs—!"

"Looks like someone is being cheerful..."

Mitsurugi blinked as he turned to see Karuma Mei greeting them. She turned towards Naruhodou. "There! The case is done, you better get well soon and get back to doing the things you always do! There's no running now, you have no choice other than continue being the attorney you are!"

Naruhodou snorted as he nodded. "Of course... do I even have a choice?" he asked as Karuma smiled.

"I thought of giving this to you only once after I've defeated you, but I guess this was a good time as any."

Naruhodou blinked as a card dropped into his lap. He took the card and gasped as he noticed the design on it. "Why—isn't this one of Koroshiya's card? Why did... and why did this doodle look a lot like...?"

Karuma smirked at him. "That card was just an old memorabilia of the past... but I think it's a suitable thing to remind you, whenever you thought about quitting law permanently. The last time do not count—and I don't want you to ever take that road again by choice this time!"

Mitsurugi turned to look at him as Naruhodou's eyes softened. "Thanks... Mei-san."

"Naruhodou-kun!"

All of them turned as a pair of spirit mediums rushed in towards them. Detective Itonokogiri and Mikumo walked by as the detective scolded the two.

"Hey, no running in the hallway!"

"Sorry!" The older girl gasped out as both of them stopped for a breather. "Did we arrive in time?" Mayoi paused before noticing the time. "Oh... it's already over, huh? I thought we could cheer on Odoroki-kun today..."

"Ano..."

Odoroki turned to find Miss Itou greeting them. The young actress smiled.

"Thank you for clearing my name. It was a shock, honestly. Finding out that Satsuki-san was my mother—and learning that all of this was done by Shimotsuki-san..."

Karuma shrugged. "That's just proved you cannot truly be sure about everyone."

Itou walked towards Naruhodou before bowing apologetically. "I deeply apologize for what happened to you. If I haven't asked you to defend me—"

"—Then you might not have been able to be proven innocent, eh? Don't worry about it, all is well in the end. Odoroki-kun did a good job in my place after all," said Naruhodou as Odoroki sighed.

"Don't say it so easily... it was a shocker to do all this unprepared!" Odoroki argued.

Minuki beamed. "Yeah! If Papa could do it, certainly you can do it!"

Itou smiled. "But honestly, I felt a bit sad. It took something like this to happen to me before I could find out the true identity of my mother. If only I knew about this earlier..."

"Perhaps, she did intend to tell you about it... one way of another." Itou turned towards Mitsurugi as he took out a folder from his case.

"I found this in your mother's safe. I think she intended for you to receive this somehow. There were several unsent letters inside, alongside her own will as well as another set of document. I've skimmed through it a bit and it seemed to me it was a script written by her that was meant for you. I guess without revealing anything, Miss Satsuki really wanted to turn you into the successful actress she did not manage to become."

Itou took the folder as she peeked through it before exclaiming. "Ah! Is this... a draft for the sequel of a movie I'm in?" She blinked. "So it wasn't just luck... that I was chosen in her production? A rookie like me..."

"I believe your mother still loved you... even after being separated for so long. Perhaps she thought of doing this first before revealing her identity to you, in order to make amends to the time you spent; not knowing her." Itou turned to Naruhodou as the man smiled. "You might think it's stupid, that she should have told you earlier... but perhaps she have her own reason to keep it from you."

"You sound convincing even though I know you're just guessing. How would you know what the victim would have thought?"

Naruhodou shrugged. "I don't. But I knew of another mother figure who used to do the same, at the cost of her own life. You should remember her... Ayasato Maiko-san."

"Ah..."

Naruhodou turned towards Itou as the girl was pulled out another document. Looking at Mitsurugi's expression, he guessed it was Miss Satsuki's will. The girl gasped.

"It's written here that she willed everything she owned to me! Oh, Naruhodou-san! With this I have the money to pay you for what you and Odoroki-san have done—"

"You don't really have to worry about that actually... Hosokawa-san told me before that he would pay for all the fees."

Mitsurugi nudged him as Naruhodou turned to him. "Just take it, you idiot. You shouldn't be so modest when your client could pay for your services for once."

Itou nodded. "Yes, yes! And you even got hurt because of me. Let me compensate you for at least a little..."

"Yay! So that's mean we can have another feast!" cried Mayoi suddenly before Minuki cut them off.

"Haha... not a chance! Minuki will not allow for any unnecessary overspending!" said the girl as Naruhodou laughed. He bade his client off as he turned towards Mayoi.

"You heard my daughter. I must say I agreed with her. You guys have been tricking me far too much in the past. Not this time."

Mayoi grinned. "I'm just kidding..."

Naruhodou laughed as he pulled his daughter unto his lap.


End file.
